Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Bit By the Travel Bug and Don't Wanna be Cured!

I'm saying goodbye to my ROJAK ways of updating my blog and will entirely focus on travel posts. But the old posts will not be deleted nor unpublished as some of them are PAID reviews or simply a tribute to some generous benefactors. I don't wanna dissapoint any of them. To date, I still receive invites to launchings, blogger events, product reviews and such so after this I am gonna be selective on that. All of those will be parked under another blog ---> fromkualalumpur.blogspot.com. I'm still trying to improve the SEO rankings for that. =)

I won several blog writing contests these couple of months and hope that's testimony enough for you to trust me to write in a new blog other than this. Though it would take a while for the other blog to gain wider reach like this one. Hehehe.. After unpublishing hundreds of personal blogposts, the traffic to this blog suffered severely and you might find some broken links or two. Sigh. That's a sacrifice I'm willing to take to do travel posts in FULL SWING.

I'd like to put this full blame to Fie-nuts.com for encouraging me and endlessly telling me how good of a story-telling I am and it shows whenever I blog about travelling. I wanna to see if her claims are true and sure enough, I've been diagnosed bitten by a travel bug (and that's her! LOL). It's amazing that despite not being a PURE travel blogger before, I still manage to somehow receive sponsored trips to several places in Malaysia. I think the sponsors were targeting the wrong group of bloggers.

Who agree with me on this one?

As I told fie-nuts last night, bloggers with high traffic are OVERATED nowadays. Sponsors should seek pure and true travel bloggers or ones sticking to a particular niches who have blog content of more than 90% on travelling or certain niche. It was a shock that during the Tourism Conference a few weeks back that when asked by the panelist on who was a pure travel blogger, ONLY ONE PERSON RAISED A HAND among 400++ attendees!!!!

And so having admittedly stated in my MITBC blogpost (which were commented by blogger TheTravelCamel and also founder of travelblog.org. Haha!!! Am humbly honored by their comments!!!), the conference certainly was thought provoking and life changing. =)

I had a nice chat with Wilson (blogger from PlacesandFood.com) the other day and he says Digital Media should unite. It made me think, what happened to my personal blog, did it become a digital media platform where corporations aim to market their products (sometimes FOR FREE) and yet pay the "middle men" thousands just because they say they have "claim" on us bloggers? I met several potential advertisers during the conference and I sadly realize that all they're looking for are top bloggers and don't even care to read the blogs themselves. I kept telling them before engaging with bloggers, PLEASE read their blogs first. Does the blog suit your niche?????

Wahh.. such a long post. I think I have to end it with a piece of my mind, I for one don't wanna be CLAIMED!

Yours truly,
Jard the Great
.

24 comments:

Tony Johor Kaki said... [Reply]

My heartiest congratualtions Zarah, for being crowned the winner of the Malaysia International Tourism Travel Blog award ;D

Thanks for the insightful sharing on what goes on in bloggersphere ;D

emilayusof said... [Reply]

Yes, I think you shouldn't deleted old random posts. Let it be. It'll still bring traffic.

Good move! I am also narrowing down my niche. As I am an illustrator, Art cannot be left out. So I decided it to be Art and Travel.

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@Johor Kakin awwww... so nice of you (tho I still dont think I deserve it with all those great travel bloggers out there) haha. its been nice meeting you during the conference. I was sitting right next to you and ur lovely daughter =)

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@emila yusof art and travel is a good niche. I'm sure u'll excel in those!!

Hannah Pearson said... [Reply]

Brave new start! I'm sure your new focus will bring you even more opportunities :)

Hannah Pearson said... [Reply]

Brave decision! I'm sure with a more defined "travel" niche you'll have even more opportunities :)

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@Hannah Pearson the narrower the niche the broader the opportunities as put by none other than David Hogan Jr! hehehe

AJ said... [Reply]

Feel you..got rejected once for HK disneyland sponsored trip the reason given as i'm not purely travel bloggers...

I think the niche is important...but the traffic is also important..I.e. 100% travel blog but less than 500 people visit the blog every day...I think will make the advertiser feel less attracted to sponsor... Just my 2 cents...

Myself, i will stick with my current niche : parenting,food,travel,personal, etc...

Anyway, good move jard...as long as we are happy,why not proceed rite?

Love ur travel entry on overseas trips..keep it up...

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@Eyriqazz u may have 2000- 5000 visits per day but among those how many percentage are really looking for places to visit? at least the pure bloggers with 500 traffic got 100% truly looking for tips and places to visit. I was informed by a media social specialist bout this. and it's very true. staying true to one niche in order to have 100% viewship of ppl who truly are looking for travel tips and recomendations is better than a rojak blogger (me before) who got 1000++ traffic but only bout 10% most probably are genuine on travel tips. =)

Lily Riani said... [Reply]

i agree with both @emila yusof on your old blogpost & @Eyriqazz on niche audience.

having said that; when i started my blog for the weirdest reason (forced by cuz and created by her too), I told myself it will be purely on travel or local sight/festival to draw non-malaysia crowd. no shopping, no lifestyle, no nothing.... well i leave 10% for random rambling lar. even the blog name was what my colleague labeled me, i just go with the flow.

i do notice that there are blogs that have too much non-travel related post versus their blog name (however, generic blog name is fine).

as for advertiser, am not as visible as you guys, need to find a way and seek guidance from you experience & affluent bloggers.

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@Lily Riani hehe. well being part of Malaysian travel bloggers facebook group... u're now visible to advertiser. so let's together grow and learn from there. =)

AJ said... [Reply]

tend to agree with you..but most advertiser, there just looking at the number & the brand name of the bloggers.. n i think it is not rite... that's y when i got rejected, i accept it ...

As u mention earlier, there is a gap between an advertiser n bloggers n they might not see yet the true potential niche blog have n just purely look at the numbers...


just my 2 cents... Every move got pro & cons...

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@Eyriqazz yes!!! that's correct!! they dont see the true potential! but u already an established brand and do keep it up too! =)

emilayusof said... [Reply]

Yes, I agree with Eyriqazz. Some advertisers just look at the amount of traffic regardless the niche of our blog. But some really look at the niche and choose wisely

But let's write for the love of writing and treat sponsored posts as bonus.

rayyan haries said... [Reply]

Hey Jard,

Talking about niche and potential marketing of blog, I have been trying to find my identity for the past 5 years writing and I keep seeing myself changing every single time.

I started up this blog because I wanted my voice to be heard, my passion for literature/theatre art and all but as the years goes by, I realized that many have changed, personally.

Now, I found that it's fascinating to write about traveling. It's more satisfying when people actually say "Thank you, I am glad I get the information from you".

But I stand on the believe that a blog would always be a personal space where one rambles everything about his/her life. Well, it's nice making big bucks with advertisers and all but at the end of the day, personal satisfaction is the best.

p/s: Well, that's a long one..haha..sorry. Anyhow,Good luck with your endeavours !

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@emila yusof as bonus. that's a good way to look at it. hehehe. hopefully not bout "batteries"

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@Rayyan Haries I love long comments!! been trying to find myself oso the past few years. Also ever-changing my style. But now I think I gain deeper satisfaction when I blog about travelling. Every-time I read back my old posts, it'd make me laugh or smile just reminiscing the memories that led me to that particular experience. =)

Biqque said... [Reply]

it's actually true tho...quite surprise on how the juries made their decision in choosing winners...voting does not purely show that contestants are truly traveler (bias to those who are popular kan...) but yeah, tuah orang :)

keep on writing babe!

Fie-Nuts said... [Reply]

Again thank you for mentioning me because yes it's my fault for having a 'mulut masin' (salty mouth). I can spot talent you know? He he. It's good also that you went for the conference to meet all the travel people and decided to just focus on writing about traveling. Continue to do it. You is the best!

Diana Diane Teo said... [Reply]

Honestly speaking, I can't see a real 100% pure travel blog nowadays except for one; David Junior from Malaysia Asia. Even Wilson from PlacesandFoods also not really 100% cause like his title said, which included Foods too.

I did saw message leaving by David saying that the ONLY ONE PERSON RAISED A HAND is actually photography blogger. Kinda weird right?

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@Biqque yeahh.. i get ur meaning. It's more of a popular vote. haha. Next year the tourism board SHOULD change that!!!

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@Fie-Nuts All I needed was a PUSH. hehehe. u're the main pusher!

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@Diana Diane Teo yeahhhh.. weird!!! actually there's not really much visibility among the travel bloggers. some are just plain mysterious and out of the spotlight. for instance FATT.

Anonymous said... [Reply]

I loved as much as you will receive carried out right here.
The sketch is attractive, your authored subject matter stylish.
nonetheless, you command get got an nervousness over that you wish be delivering the following.
unwell unquestionably come more formerly again as exactly the same nearly very often
inside case you shield this hike.
Also see my web page - By Carlos Temecula