Problem
My blog includes every interesting and useful piece of travel information I come across which will entertain and inform me and you. It doubles as a record of my travels, a plan for a return trip, and a blog to keep me in the public eye as a journalist.
I want to increase my readers. How will you find me. How do I increase my f i n d a b i l i t y? I just made up that word. The spell checker keeps changing it back, with a time delay so that I correct it but the change recurs later. The technical jargon for what I have called f i n d a b i l i t y is search engine optimisation, abbreviated to SEO. My son has an SEO business and won an award. On his advice, I have made changes and focus and I am going to reveal how that affects me and you.
Popular People and Brand Names
I have to disregard all my training. As an independent journalist, I would act like the BBC, and be independent, not influenced by any commercial consideration. Now, to be more popular, instead of cutting out brand names and introduction generic terms, I should introduce references to famous people, alive and dead, and current events.
Wearing Advertising, Slogans and PR, Popularity and Fashion
I can see that over the decades things have changed. Nowadays, if you give a shameless plug, like Graham Norton on TV, or Jonathan Ross, you just grin and say, "I shall give a shameless plug!"
In the 1960s, the only people showing slogans in public were weirdos marching up and down high streets (in the USA you say main streets) trying to persuade busy shoppers that 'the end is nigh'. Now everybody competes to have amusing slogans across their chest and back. Tee-shirts are worn by everybody, pretty PR girls, not just window cleaners.
Who Is Reading What Where?
My website's editing page gives me lists of statistics on the countries where I have readers for the day, the week and the year, and now, it's easy for me to see what's going on.
What's New To You?
All this is not new to me. The trouble with relaying knowledge is that as soon as you know something, it seems obvious and not newsworthy. I have to think as a reader, like a teacher of English to pupils who are either beginners, intermediate or advanced. The same goes for travel writing.
Many or Few Readers, Rich Or Poor?
My instinct is to look for more readers. I remember going to PR events when I would be greeted warmly by a PR lady. After five minutes, she looks over my shoulder and sees somebody of more urgent interest. He's from a national newspaper with more than a million readers. She has to rush over and greet him. Yes, of course I can't hog her attention all evening. But he has a million readers. I remember thinking that the last time a million readers read my name was when Kay Boyle recommended my book on Etiquette For Every Occasion in her column at the back of the TV Times. It was my success story for the week. I thought, 'if only I could have a million readers every day!'
Providing New Information
Sometimes I re-read my post and think, but everybody knows this. Do I need to say that Bucharest is the capital of Romania? Everybody living there knows that.
But when I re-read my article and realise that I have left it out, I remember that before I went to Romania I did not know the capital. So I have to introduce the fact subtly. For example I could write something like, 'More flight' or 'fewer' flights' go to the capital, but/and Bucharest also has many ... If you do arrive in Bucharest on the evening flight, head over to the restaurant district ...
Every sentence involves another five minutes of research. How many flights a day? Is there a night flight? Is there an accent on the name of the city or restaurant?
Accuracy
I also have to consider carefully what I say about prices so as not to mislead or raise hopes. I need to make it clear to the reader what they are getting for their money. As a reminder to myself, and for the reader for help and credibility, and for legal reasons, I should show if a price does not include sales tax, VAT, service charges and other extras.
Today I have a brochure from John Lewis Finance Team. It says 'Gifts For Them Mean Vouchers For you.' Then, "Apply for a Partnership Card and receive £20".
I remember debating that with the statistician in the family. What does 18.9% APR representative variable mean? Would the amount I paid on interest offset the £20 gain? Who is going to pay the bill in the family and would they pay off the card in time to avoid charges?
Do I need to analyse it? Or can I just say, check out this offer and see if it suits you?
Newsletters And Personal Details
The title of my new blog Luxury for Less, tells the reader what to expect and also helps me focus. I want to avoid too much personal information.
However, I could add a newsletter. What do you do if there's no worldwide news? A newsletter can be chattier and more personal. A newsletter enables me to be more like Facebook. I could tell the world if had to shorten my posts because I fell ill, or went to an exhibition.
I usually get bored if I read a newsletter all about the writer's dog when I was looking for information on buying bargains (not bargains for dogs). Yet I can see that a whole load of people (Americans say bunch of people) have replied. So, I plan to start a newsletter.
Time Differences Around The World
Time is another factor. On Facebook I was aware that if I start work at 9 am in London but don't open Facebook until lunch time, the birthday greetings I send to friends in Singapore will not arrive until the day is over. So I adapted my birthday message to good wishes for the whole year.
Americans are west of England; when I am in America, the UK is east. It's like 'the far east' from the UK'. If I am writing in the UK, if I write a blog post at midnight in the UK it will reach early risers in the USA. If I want to be really precise, I must remember that the USA has a time difference between west coast, mountain time, east coast time.
Time-based Greetings
The fashion is to start emails to people in the same country with Good Morning. This solves your problem if they have long names you have forgotten, or too long to write, or type, or if you are not sure whether to address them by first name or more formally. However, that won't work on a website being read around the world.
If you watch international broadcasts of worldwide events such as the Eurovision Song Contest or the Olympics, you will see that the well briefed commentators will begin by greeting watchers according to the time of day. They say, "Good morning to everybody in ... (such and such a country) and good afternoon if you are watching from ...'.
Pleasing Readers In Different Countries
A reference to Americanisms will increase my American readership. A reference to buying a Russian language learning system, or the delights of the Moscow's underground stations increases readers in Russia. Stories about Ukraine or Romania also increase readership in Russia or adjacent countries. Stories about Rome, the leaning tower of Pisa, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci and learning Italian and balloon flights in Tuscany and truffles in Umbrian restaurants will increase readers in Italy.
Website Names
Blogger dot com's basic blog does not look as professional as a dedicated website. I buy a website name. I go through my blogs and select subjects.
Going Live! When?
We put up our website but transfer it. The new site doesn't work. We can edit but the public cannot read it. We confer at midnight but have to wait until the working day starts to contact the websites support team.
Oops!
I get a lot of offers from major clothing catalogue companies as well as business start ups. I ignore an offer or miss an offer, then a day later in comes another offer. They say, 'Oops - a lot of people did not get our offer yesterday, so we are extending it by another 24 hours. Don't worry if you missed it, to compensate you and for those who wrote in saying you could not reply in time because you were on holiday we are extending it all week'.
I used to think, what is this. Is it a marketing ploy.
No, says my son. These blips happen all the time, in the top companies and experienced teams as well as newcomers to the business world. Every new venture on the internet is likely to encounter delays and broken links, mis-typing, hundreds of things which can go wrong. Most of them are double checked and fixed but with dozens of businesses contacting you, some of them are bound to have teething problems. That's life.
So, now you know.
Buying The Name Luxury Travel For Less
Why luxury travel for less? It is alliterative. The dot com was already gone, sold to somebody else. So I grabbed the UK version.
The Reduced Cost of A Website
A week later the website price was reduced. Why? I don't know. The prices of many things nowadays go up and down. If we had watched and waited - and risked losing out to some other buyer, we could have bought the domain name (website name) for less. We consoled ourselves with the thought that the extra we paid meant we had had another week to get started earlier.
Why Luxury?
I love five star hotels and gourmet meals and meeting, greeting, glimpsing famous people.If I can't go there, I like to read about them. To find out what I am missing. To live vicariously. To take a look. Do you? Most people do. The word luxury covers that.
Do I want fewer big-spending readers or many more bargain hunters? If you don't think you can achieve the huge readership, then go for the small, select readership. If you as a writer, a reader, or advertiser, want to network or sell to the people who are selling or buying in the upper end of the market, you are more interested in reaching 2,000 high spenders than two million low spenders.
Why Less?
But I also like the countryside, being anonymous, being with ordinary people. I like to splurge for a celebration, a birthday, a wedding anniversary.
But I love a bargain, which enables me to get more for my money, or not feel so guilty about what I have spent. The word less covers that. Less money.
Brides Magazine
When I first started writing for Brides magazine, UK, the then editor, a level, efficient lady called Sandra Boler, told to end with suggestions for three hotels, one in each price bracket, 5 star, 3 star and 1 star. That way every bride, every reader, should find something of interest. I have that in mind when writing for you.
Hotels, restaurants and consumers know that people spend more at Christmas and economise in January. That's when the hotels and restaurants are offering bargain. To tempt the richer and the poorer, appeal to everybody.
Now you know. Watch out for my new website and blog, Luxury Travel For Less (co.uk), written with your interests in mind, coming soon.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
