Each week we feature an interview with a member of the Superstar Blogging community. These interviews highlight the ups and downs faced on the road to success, illuminating helpful tips and tricks along the way. If you want to get inspired and succeed in the world of travel blogging, video, writing, or photography then consider these interviews must-read material! This week we are featuring David from the Business of Blogging course.
Tell us about yourself!
My name is David, and I am 29 years old. I live in Hamburg but I come from Hungary. I’m an IT specialist but I studied communication and media science, web-design, and web development as well. I started traveling two years ago, and in this time I met my girlfriend in Germany. We are a great couple because we both love to explore new places. We’ve already had some beautiful experiences but it’s still just the beginning!
How did you get started traveling? What inspired your wanderlust?
At first I didn’t have anyone who would travel with me, so after moving to Germany I bought my first flight ticket alone to Lisbon, Portugal. This was my first solo trip and I started to feel how amazing it can be to travel alone. Why Lisbon? It was the cheapest ticket that I found! The thing I see about people who almost never travel is that they don’t travel because they aren’t enough brave to step out of their comfort zone. That’s why I decided to go; the incapable attitude of the other people inspired me. But now I just love to travel. While travelling solo in Lisbon, I could spend more time with myself and this experience helped build my self-confidence. I always wanted to see the whole world, and some people have given me a lot of motivation by saying that it’s not possible and that traveling is too expensive. I want to show people that everybody is able to see the world if they really want to. Nowadays I can travel much more with my girlfriend but if she doesn’t have time I don’t hesitate to book flight tickets just for me!
What are some of your favorite places you’ve been to?
So far, the best experiences I have had were in Mexico and Norway. In Playa del Carmen I was with my girlfriend, and in these two weeks we experienced the culture, the sea, and Mexican food. We learned about the Mayan culture and we visited Chichen Itza. We would definitely go back! Norway was the opposite of this tropical feeling. I enjoyed the 3-metre snow, the beautiful fjords, a barbecue on the top of a mountain, and the calm, white city of Tromsø. My particular favorite experience was the barbecue on the mountain top. A blizzard was moving in, but our guide Andrei was really cool and easy-going so we started to grill the meat and wraps anyway. It was crazy cold and windy, but we were happy sitting around the fire drinking coffee and talking with each other. I met people from the US, Indonesia, and India as well. It was really good and a bit surreal as an experience. I loved it because I felt that I was really alive.
Where are you heading in 2017?
I have many destinations in mind for this year. I have already been in France, Spain, Italy, Norway, Austria, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. In April, we are going to travel to Ireland and Scotland, and in May to Iceland, Barbados, and England. In August, we’re headed to China and in December to New York, but this is not the full list for this year. I’ll try to book some random trips as well. Checking flight tickets is one of my daily activities. Why? My first plan was to explore Europe, and with a full-time job it’s possible to travel to European places in a single weekend. China, Barbados, and New York will be holidays with my girlfriend. Together we can gather broader impressions, and that will allow me to write more details about these places.
Tell us about your blog!
I started writing my blog in November of 2016. At first, the focus changed really fast. But now I think I’ve found a direction I want to follow. At the beginning the plan was to write a personal blog about me and my personal experiences. But I began to think, ‘it’s not enough. I can’t provide what I would like to give my audience by myself.’ That’s why I changed my site and I tried to make it less personal but more informative. I work with many guest bloggers so we can show much more of our beautiful world. The focus is traveling, but there are smaller topics like food, hotel reviews, and travel tips as well. It’s just the beginning. I have many ideas I want to develop.
What has been your biggest success so far?
The biggest success is that on WordPress I feel like I’ve built a pretty nice page and I’ve worked with more than fifty contributors so far. Next to the magazine, I have more and more followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and email subscribers as well. The other big success has been the responses I get from the readers via email or comments. Oh yes, I have already earned my first dollar. It made me really happy.
What struggles have you had during your blogging career? How have you overcome them?
The struggles have been and will be the design. I’m always unsatisfied with it and probably I will be unsatisfied until I migrate my site away from WordPress. After that I will have the opportunity to pay for a professional and excellent design. So, I can’t say that I have already overcome my challenge, but I can see the solution for this problem and I know when I can solve it. I struggle with the language too because I’m not native speaker and it was risky to start a blog in English. But I thought that I could reach bigger audiences in if I wrote in English. It’s hard, but I can improve my knowledge every day, and I work together with some editors who fix my grammar errors.
What do you enjoy the most about blogging?
I love to see the result of writing. Not just the words, but the photos, links and everything together. The second thing I love is to chat with other bloggers because I get to meet new, awesome people who will be friends and collaborators as well. I have already received a lot positive feedback and it gives me more and more energy to move forward.
In addition to this course, what other resources do you rely on for help/information?
I have read a lot of other blogs and I continue to read every day. I check the designs, the topics, and the focus by the authors, and this activity give me a lot of new impressions and help. In addition to this course, I’m going to start the Travel Blog Success course, as well.
Why do you keep blogging?
I wanted to give up many times, but I have always gotten a lot of positive emails and comments from the readers so I continued. I think this is the biggest motivation; I want to keep in contact with people and to meet new bloggers or friends.
What is one thing you wish you knew before you started blogging?
It would’ve been helpful to know what kind of blog I really wanted to have. At the beginning, I didn’t know exactly how the site should look and what the focus should be. That’s why I changed the topics every week. Now I know that I would like to build an online travel magazine with a lot of great authors.
What are your blogging goals for 2017?
I’m going to continue working on my blog/magazine. I say always magazine because what I’m working on is not a simple personal blog but it will be a big travel information provider site with a lot of amazing traveler together. So, the goal is to build a really exciting travel magazine with a lot of guest authors to provide the other bloggers something special, more than a simple blog. I want to include stories, experiences, and reviews from many bloggers and travelers on one site. I want to create one place where people can read personal experiences, see beautiful pictures, and find useful information. I want to help people have the information and inspiration they need to start planning their travel immediately.
What apps do you use that make your blogging easier when traveling?
If I’m traveling I keep in contact with followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. TripAdvisor is another very useful app. It has helped me a lot to find nice restaurants, supermarkets, or sights. But the most important app is Google Maps of course. Nowadays people use less maps and instead use GPS. It helps me to find the best public transportation options and the best routes if I want to explore a place.
What is one thing you can’t travel without?
I would never travel without my mobile, notebook, and headphones. This is the world of technology and so I can listen music, connect with people easily, and of course, use Google Maps. I can make route plans and save time on my trips.
What camera/video gear do you travel with?
I use an iPhone 6, a Nikon Coolpix p530 and a GoPro Hero Black 5.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to a new blogger?
- Decide what you really want. If you want to write a personal blog for you, friends or family, it’s great and if it makes you happy then definitely go for it. But if your goal is to reach a bigger audience and create professional content, then you have to be very thoughtful and purposeful about creating a platform to do that. This is the first and most important step. Work on some part of it every day, even if that’s not publishing every day.
- Read a lot of blogs before you start. It’s helpful to learn how other authors work and what their focus is. I didn’t do that, and that’s why I had to make a big change almost every week. Since then I have learned a lot from the other bloggers. So be thoughtful and read a lot.
Tell us about your blog and where we can find you on social media.
My blog is a travel magazine called We’re the Travelers. It’s a place where myself and other beginning writers write about our experiences, hotels, foods, and feelings. The point is that everybody can be a part of the magazine if they write about traveling, hotel reviews, foods, tips or motivations for traveling. People can read about places from more perspectives this way. I want to give varied impressions for people who are planning a trip somewhere and motivate people to travel. It’s also a nice opportunity for the other beginning bloggers who want to have a bit more of an audience. You can find my blog at We’re the Travelers or find me on Facebook and Twitter.