In today’s travel blogging tips article I am delighted to be featuring Ayngelina Brogan, author of the wonderfully titled blog: Bacon is Magic.
Currently travelling in Latin America, on a journey that has lasted almost a year, Ayngelina set off with the intention of finding out more about herself and her life.
Nearly a year of travelling later, she has made the decision to lead a location independent lifestyle. On her blog she shares her stories of travel, her hopes and fears, and some wonderful photography.
Today she talks about her aspirations for her site, who she turns to when she needs advice, and her number one tip for increasing site traffic. On with the interview!
Tell us a little bit about Ayngelina, and your site, Bacon is Magic.
Almost a year ago I had a great job, boyfriend, friends and apartment but I felt like something was missing so I decided to travel for a year to find inspiration. I’ve been writing about my experiences as I travel through Latin America. Although it is a travel blog the locations are really just the background for my journey to find something more meaningful.
It’s also evolved a bit as I’ve decided to make this an indefinite experience and try to become location independent.
Why did you start writing a travel blog?
It started off purely for friends and family as a way to document the trip. I had no idea others would be interested in the site.
How do you define success in terms of your travel blog?
Ultimately I want to be happy with the content I produce. I could drive more traffic and make more money by doing generic top 10 lists but I would rather have a smaller group of dedicated readers who have the same interests.
What aspirations do you have for your travel blog?
Well two things:
- Increase the revenue so that it can sustain my travels
- Branch out from travel as I´m now also writing about my own quest for location independence and creating a life on my terms.
How would you describe your level of technical know-how, and how has this helped or hindered your site?
I didn’t know much when I started and chose a really bad template. Fortunately I met The Aussie Nomad really early on and he has taught me everything I know.
Do you follow any metrics in terms of traffic analysis / site ranking, and how important do you think these are?
That’s a tough question. Sure everyone loves to see an increase in traffic and ranking but ultimately I can’t base my value on numbers. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t check them every day.
What would be your number one tip for increasing site traffic?
The best tip I learned for quality traffic was from Andi Perullo of My Beautiful Adventures, which was to email commenters your response. A lot of people don’t come back to a post to read your response. Because she took the time to personally respond I felt compelled to follow her adventures and now I consider her a great blogger friend.
What have you found to be the hardest thing about running a travel blog, and how do you overcome this?
Time management. It’s easy to get into a habit of being online all day but my best work comes when I unplug. Recently I took a digital sabbatical and it really helped my ideation.
Where do you turn for help when you need advice on your travel blog?
I have a solid group of people who are so supportive but there are three people who have supported me from the early days: Chris from The Aussie Nomad has taught me so much about the technical end, I talk to Michael of Go See Write daily about blogging and Mike from Fevered Mutterings is an inspiring writer and great friend.
What sort of time commitment do you put in to your travel blog on a weekly basis?
I have this lofty dream about only working an hour a day but it ends up being 2-3 times that much. I spend as much time on social media and promoting the blog as I do writing.
If there was one thing you wish you could have known before you started writing your blog, what would it have been?
Start it as early as possible so you can learn the technical aspects and find your voice before you go. I wish I had started it a year before I departed.
What have you found to be the best way to go about generating an income from your blog?
Monetizing is tough and I don’t think you really get a good grasp of it until nearly a year of blogging. Text links are the easiest form of income but now that I´m a bit more established I want to explore other means.
How do you go about promoting your travel blog?
As I mentioned above social media consumes half my working time. Twitter is great for networking with other bloggers, Facebook is great for ¨real people¨and most recently I’ve started guest posting to reach new readers.
How do you see travel blogging developing over the next few years?
I already see it starting to diversify, some are great at general travel tips, others at luxury or eco travel. Although I’m technically a travel blog I focus more on finding inspiration through travel to change your life.
And finally, what key advice would you give to people running, or thinking about setting up, their own travel blog?
Start early and learn the ins and outs before you go and for goodness sake, do not use blogger.
As always, tremendous thanks to Ayngelina for taking the time to answer my questions. You can find out more about her travels on her website, plus you can find her on both twitter and facebook.
For more travel blogging tips from the experts, have a look at the rest of the series. To keep up to date with upcoming posts you can subscribe to the RSS feed or join in on the site’s Facebook page. In the meantime, if you have any questions or thoughts on this post or the series thus far, the comments box awaits!
Ayngelina says
hehe, Google Reader makes things very efficient, it feels like I’m everywhere but really not so much – also not as much as Andi!
Connie Hum says
Great interview! Lots of useful information from Ayngelina! Keep up the great work with Bacon is Magic and good luck with achieving your goals! Sounds like you’ll be there in no time!
smith says
The interview taken by Ayngelina is really good. Tips for
travel blogging are quite informative.
Laurence says
Thanks 🙂
alltraveltips4me says
This is a really great interview Ayngelina.The idea was awesome. I think that interviews like this will not only help beginner bloggers
to develop their skills but will also help this community to grow more and more.
katja hentschel says
this is a lovely idea, but isnt it tough finding the time for this, amongst all the other stuff that need taking care of?
Erica&Shaun Kuschel says
I am so happy that I started blogging a year ahead of our trip. I had no clue that it would turn out to be the project that I love today.
Ayngelina, you really are an inspiration for many of us. I know I look up to you, look forward to your advice, and love your blog posts.
Laurence says
Although I get a lot of different responses to the various questions in
this series – the one about starting earlier is a very common theme!
Starting a whole year before you set off is a great idea, as it lets you
get comfortable with the whole blogging thing and your site design
before you set off 🙂
yTravelBlog says
Hey Ayngelina, fantastic interview! Thanks for sharing Laurence. And like others have mentioned very useful tips. Agree time management is key, there are so many distractions online and off. Like and agree with your perspective that it’s better to have a hundred loyal followers who will sing your praises and share you naturally to a targeted audience, than a million fly by nighters who stumble you.
Looking forward to meeting you somewhere in this wide world…
Ordinary Traveler says
Great advice, Ayngelina! I used to send our comment replies to people’s emails, but if they didn’t opt into receive it I feel like some people would get annoyed with that. Don’t you think?
ayngelina says
Christy, if someone takes the time to comment on my blog I think it opens up the dialog. Personally I would prefer an email back from someone responding so I don’t have to check their site again.
I haven’t had anyone complain…yet 🙂
Laurence says
I like the comment systems that e-mail me when someone has replied
specifically to me, rather than mass e-mail me every follow up comment
on the post.
Geert @ Inspiring Travellers says
Excellent tips from an excellent blogger! I agree about starting early – we worked out so many kinks in the first year that I would not have had the time or patience to deal with while on the road.
Chris says
Good interview choice Lawrence, Ayngelina’s blog is great and having known her from the very beginning I can easily say its been one hell of a friendship I’ve made. God help us when I finally meet up with her.
Laurence says
Thanks Chris! I’m really looking forward to meeting up with a whole
range of travel bloggers – hopefully this month I’ll be catching up with
Dave and Deb from The Planet D on their wanderings around NZ 🙂
Cathy Sweeney says
Love this interview of Ayngelina! Nice to learn more about her and get some of her great tips!
Justin Hamlin says
The interview was great Ayngelina – as always. Its always nice to see a little more insight to the life of the people behind the blogs we follow. Their thoughts, motives, practices, etc.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Ayngelina says
Thanks, these are all things I learned from such a great community of people.
positiveworldtravel says
Great interview Angelina. We are loving your new site by the way! I think we need to take some time away from our blog and unplug to gain inspiration again. It is sometimes hard to find a good workflow and also experiencing the world around your We have found that we will work on the site for a week then schedule for 4 weeks. Hope you are enjoying Latin America. We are making our way down there shortly.
ayngelina says
I’m the same way. I’d rather work hard for a few days and relax for a few weeks although social media is really a daily thing.
Make sure you find me when you come down!
traveltosun says
Thank you for these really useful tips, Ayngelina. I started blogging about 6 months ago, but I know I still have a long way ahead of me and I think that interviews like this will not only help beginner bloggers to develop their skills but will also help this community to grow.
ayngelina says
Thanks, these are all things I learned from such a great community of people.