How To Write A Better Travel Blog - TBU Innsbruck

Travel Writing for Travel BloggersHow to Write a Better Blog
Abigail King

Who am I?
Blogger
Inside the Travel Lab & Cheap Weekend Breaks
Visit Britain, Lonely Planet, UK Inspirations
“Traditional” writing & photography
Lonely Planet, BBC, CNN, Red Magazine
Academic journals
Guides
Corporate work

Writing
Magic
Can transport a total stranger into a completely different world
Mundane
Rules, tools and tricks of the trade

Writing...
...is like driving

Writing Is Like Driving
You can learn to do it
You can learn to do it well
It’s a skill that brings you great freedom, pleasure and other opportunities
Some people do it exceptionally well
You may or may not be one of them
So what? Not winning a Grand Prix doesn’t stop you from driving

Overview
The big secret
What is the point?
Headlines
Beginning
Middle
End
Final polish

The Secret to Great Writing Is...
...REWRITING
“The first draft of anything is shit”
Ernest Hemingway

How To Improve...
Remove the mystery
Get writing
Edit, edit, edit and then edit some more
You can always edit bad writing. You can’t edit a blank page

Two Main Approaches
Pour your heart out onto the screen. Take a break. Get to work. The impassioned artist approach.
Plan every point methodically before you start and the fill in the gaps afterwards. The careful civil servant approach.

Writing for Blogs
All the usual principles of good writing, plus
SEO
Continuity
Call to action
A sense of story & personality.
You are not Wikipedia

What’s Your Point?
Why are you writing this post?
Information guide
Provoke a discussion
Entertain

Finding a Theme
What can you say about this experience that no-one else can?
History
Quotes
Current affairs

Headlines
Bad headline > no-one reads the rest
Page Title
H1 Tag
Modify the headline for Facebook, Twitter, Google +

Headlines
For Search
Use the AdWords tool
Consider what people type into the search box
For Social Media & Regular Readers
Room to be more creative
Use lists
Use questions
Use words loaded with emotion

An Example
Page Title - Search
“Visiting the Alhambra” or “What’s it like to visit the Alhambra?”
H1 Title – Social
“Beauty, brutality and motherhood”

Headlines
Experiment
Read Write to Sellby Andy Maslen
Read Copyblogger
Test your headline against the “So What?” test

Opening Line
Crucial
People are busy. There is already too much information to consume and too many distractions online
You HAVE to hook them with your opening line

Start Mid-Action
I’m running through Kraków’s bus station, spinning around to see coaches lined up behind me and smaller trams rattling through the concrete space below. My eyes jump around, searching for D8, for Oświȩcim.
A stocky man strides towards me.
“Proszę,” I say, please, before my supply of Polish dries up. I’m suddenly embarrassed, flushed and ashamed to say to the face of a stranger one of the most emotionally charged words in the world.
“Auschwitz.” He says it first.

Start With Speech
“Bend your knees,” he says and I have to obey. From behind, he pulls the strap until the rubber scrapes my skull. I hug my arms against my chest and crank my head back, making the shackles around my thighs tighten further.
“Now,” he commands, as I try to ignore the gap where the side of the aeroplane should be, “don’t forget to smile for the camera.”
And with that, we’re gone.

Start With A Bang
Launch with the biggest piece of information:
“The world’s best restaurant – that’s how it was billed.”

Do Something Different
When I first started travelling in Italy my relationship to beach going and sunbathing was strained.
I’ve got the natural skin tone of a maggot, so when I first started travelling in Italy my relationship to beach going and sunbathing was strained.
Italiannotes.com

Opening Line - Pitfalls
Rambling
Errors
Assumptions – When you think of Independence Day, you think of sales, right?
What if that’s not what I think when I read it?

The Middle
Consider headings
Keep your theme in mind
Use the five senses
Use transitions

Make It Punchy
Short Words. Use Them.
Avoid the passive
Cut unnecessary phrases & fillers
Use verbs not adverbs

Examples
I walked quickly and quietly
I tiptoed
I sprinted
I paced

Spelling & Grammar

Spelling & Grammar
Always run a spell check
Choose one version of a language & stick to it
Use other resources to help you with finer points eg The Guardian online

Research & Fact Checking
Always do it
Errors reduce your credibility
Check with reputable sources

Pitfalls
Breathtaking
Stunning
Gem
Amazing
Use in moderation. They don’t tell me much about the place (or you)

The Finish
Don’t just stop
Deliver your reader safely back to the real world
Make them glad they bothered to read the whole thing

The Finish - Techniques
Echo something from the start
End with a teaser
End with a quote
End with a question

Bring Them Back...
Ninety minutes later I’m back in Krakow, in the rush hour stream of 21st century life. Beyonce’s Beautiful Nightmare accompanies the commuters and shoppers, while fluorescent lights shine over the latest Zara collection and women sell salt-encrusted Obwarzanki from kiosks sheltered from the wind.
I go to buy one and find two pieces of paper in my pocket. Jan’s card and the square cut-out from the first bus driver. It lists the departure times from Auschwitz back to the modern world.
It’s only small, but perhaps this was the sliver of beauty and hope that I was searching for.

The Teaser...
Then we enter the kitchen and meet the man himself: Ferran Adria, the head chef.
To be continued...

The Call to Action
What do you want your readers to do?
Comment?
Share the post?
Buy something?
ASK THEM TO DO IT

English as a Foreign Language
Wow. Congratulations.
However...
Don’t think you can forget all this
Especially the grammar and spelling part

The Final Polish
Search for your own “danger” words
Look for colours, the passive, rambling
Read it out aloud
Spell check
Link to other posts from your site and beyond

Experiment
Play around with these techniques
Test what works for you and your readers
Aim high but don’t let the quest for perfection hold you back
Enjoy it

Questions
?

Resources
Online courses – www.writers.com
Write to Sell – Andy Maslen
On Writing – Stephen King
Story - Robert McKee
Copyblogger

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http://net-effect.co.uk	20
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http://www.twylah.com	5
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How To Write A Better Travel Blog - TBU Innsbruck

by Abigail King on Aug 29, 2011

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How To Write A Better Travel Blog - TBU Innsbruck — Presentation Transcript