The universe of travel blogs that comprise the gigantic, loosely organized travel blogopshere make Earth seem like a tiny place to explore in comparison. Travel blogs are an incredible source of information about and at your destination. Although you’re reading a travel blog right now, grasping just what a travel blog is and how they can benefit you can be a tough concept to wrap your brain around.
The travel blogosphere is best looked at through a telescope, not a microscope, and once you start putting the constellations together your begin to uncover a vast travel tool at your disposal.
Don’t be thrown off by that term, “blogosphere” simply means a large group of blogs that are related by topic. In this case it’s travel, but even that’s a pretty liberal definition as you’ll see shortly. There are no entry requirements to having a travel blog – there are many free and inexpensive options – but if you’re blogging about anything even close to travel you’re in.
There are also corporate travel blogs, those attached to some business entity, usually designed to promote a specific brand.
Some Of The Big Players In The Travel Blogosphere
There are over 7,000 travel blogs that focus on a variety of topics like photography, eco-travel, and others about specific destinations like Medellin Living. Much like living organisms, travel blogs are born, live, and die – with the average life cycle lasting about a year. Many travel blogs pop up around RTW trips and peter out once the travels come to an end.
Regularly updated travel blogs older than 18 months are the exception, not the norm.
Though many metrics can be used to measure travel blog success, there are a few personalities with large audiences you’re likely to come across quickly without much digging.
To find even more blogs you can see what I was reading in 2008, 2009, and the full list. (Travel bloggers feel free to leave your links in the comments.) From the biggest sites to the smallest, most travel blogs are run primarily by a single person or traveling couple. Despite their prevalence, travel bloggers are interconnected enough to give the large online community a small-town feel.
The strength of travel blogs is in their variety. Chances are, on one Google search or another looking for travel information, you’ve stumbled upon a travel blog. The individual nature of travel blogs (not the corporate ones) generally means you’re getting unbiased, firsthand travel advice.
On top of that many travel bloggers are very accessible through contact pages, comments, Twitter, Facebook, or all of the above. As cheesy as it sounds, there’s a travel blog out there with the information, stories, or pictures for you to learn from or be inspired by.
Tapping The Resource
The state of the travel blogosphere is changing on many levels but one certainty is that it’s growing…and fast. Travel blogs are much like the modern version of paper newspapers and magazines with audiences in the hundreds of thousands. Blogging is steadily replacing conventional media because it’s a direct – however navigating the travel blogosphere isn’t – at first. Look directly to the right and you’ll see a few of my favorites under “Links”, check out this list of best travel blog lists, ask away in the comments below to get started.
You’ll not only get my response but probably those from several other readers as well for your very own gateway to personal travel advice, photography, and videos.
[photos by: Dave Bleasdale (blogosphere), ShaneRobinson (laptop on a plane), pieremario (you button)]