Last year I decided that I wanted to start a blog to keep family, friends and stalkers updated on where I was and what I was doing, without all of the nerdy internet stuff mixed in. I started Wanderstruck with this in mind and put in a good effort for a few months but wasn’t able to keep at it the way I had hoped. Earlier this year I gave up and transferred all of the travel posts over to this blog and as a result, Wanderstruck died. R.I.P.
But I still think the domain name is fantastic and I really want to develop something on there, I’m just not really sure what. Here are my ideas, I would love to know what you think.
Travel Magazine Type Site
While writing about travel in general is something I really like, it’s also something that has been done to death and done well by people like Vagabondish, Nomadic Matt and Matador. I had sort of been thinking about possible niches and the best I could come up with was a site dedicated to super long term budget travellers. People that sell all their crap and just go for a lot longer than a year, with few plans for the future and nothing holding them back. While I think I’ve got a few good articles in me, Im not sure how long I would be able to repeatedly come up with good stuff that has’t already been said. I could attempt to attract contributors but that could end up being a lot more work than I’m willing to take on just now.
Africa Independent Travel Site
At this point I know less than nothing about travelling in Africa. For me it is still a scary, dangerous place and, while I know nowhere is ever as bad as ‘they’ say it is, Africa still scares me a bit. But it also fascinates me and seems to be one of the few places in the world that not a lot is written about as far as independent travel goes. I would love to create a site to fill this void, sort of in a similar style to what Travelfish and has done for parts of Asia. Become an expert on a region and do it really, really well. Africa is obviously huge so I might start small with whichever countries I head to first and go from there. I have zero knowledge to share at this stage but I have all the time in the world, a love of slow travel, a huge amount of interest in the area and am up for a bit of an adventure. This is a project I think I could really get behind.
Sell the Site/Domain Name
I’ve also considered just selling the thing. I don’t know the first thing about selling sites or domain names but one person expressed interest, although I’mnot sure for how much. I have a different and really ambitious project in the pipeline involving programmers and designers and all sorts so maybe taking on another big project will be too much and unloading it would be better.
I’m all ears if anyone has any suggestions or comments on the ideas I have. Let me know what you think.
If you do decide to unload it Kirsty, let me know – I’m looking for a new project!
As far as the travel magazine goes, I think that it’s your take readers would be interested in, even if the topics have been done before. I like the Africa idea most, a good topic that would attract quite a few readers.
First I’d like to mention that for some reason I can’t open the comments on your site in Explorer, had to use Safari to write this comment (no sacrifice really), perhaps there is something in the code on your side and then perhaps on my side though I think that is less likely since it works pretty well on the other blogs I comment on.
My suggestion is to use the domain name for helping people who are just that; wanderstruck, want to travel but don’t know how to do it, how to plan short or long trips, escape the rat race, build a travel fund, give notice at the job (sabbatical, gap year etc.), where travel is cheapest, how to travel on the cheap, different ways to fund travel on the road and more.
I’m in IE, testing out the comments… so far looks ok so let’s see if it posts!
Thanks for the suggestions so far. I have to admit that I’m pretty torn about which route to go down although the Africa idea inspires me a lot more. I like the idea of writing about stuff that doesn’t seem to have been done to death just yet. But keep the comments coming… I’m still very much on the fence.
I’m probably not going to sell the site… unless someone throws a couple grand my way, of course!
Yeah, this is real strange, now my explorer browser won’t open your site at all, (using safari again) only thing I get is this message> Internet explorer cannot open this internet site http:nerdynomad.com”/ operation aborted. Think the NSA got something against you?
Actually “Africa independent travel” looks fairly easy to dominate – though there is not much in the way of demand – which is always the problem I have with travel – I’d love to make some money with travel sites- it hasn’t happened yet LOL
Unless you need the money and you have a desperate buyer I wouldn’t sell a site which has age and PR – if you do want to sell http://flippa.com/ (used to sitesell) is the place to do it. Just to give you an idea I have been offered 4 figures for a 2 word dot org – just for the domain not the site (I’m thinking about it)
Just a thought – there is a World Cup game in SA in 2010…
As a newbie i am looking for these kind of info. Its very much interesting and informative site. Its very helpful. I can learn a lot from here.
I don’t think a single person can work at more than 1-2 blogs properly at the same time.
Why not just mix it up here on this blog, with travel/making money online here?
@WJM I’m stumped… anyone else having problems?
@lissie I agree. Although I think the long tail for this niche would be huge with all of the different countries, attractions, tour options etc. But for me it’s less about making money and more about what interests me and where I think I could add value. I still cant bring myself to build sites around money making terms. I like to do what I like… probably the reason I will be hovering around $1000 a mnth for eternity! haha
@Mike I agree completely. Whil eI think I will cave and use WP as the platform, the site won’t be a blog. I know that I can’t run two blogs already, that’s why Wanderstruck died in the first place. I think I will incorporate WJM’s suggestions into Nerdy Nomad and maybe expand the sorts of things I talk about on here.
I haven’t chimed in here for a while. But here is my two cents.
Make it a pan-African travel magazine site. No one dominates this space yet. No real authority sites. Africa travel is going to get bigger and bigger with faster growth coming after the World Cup.
Use WP as your platform. You can add-on other features with additional html pages or php and database driven by just matching the template. If you have questions about this, you can email me.
I don’t think you need to feel much pressure because of your other project. Just take this slow and write what you can for now. Maybe research based posts and travel prep, etc.
You should be on the look out for contributors. Maybe all you can offer them for now is a link back to their site. Over time you should try to get some paid contributions from travelers on the ground who could use the $$. In time you will also be able to figure the best methods for monetization. In a few years Wanderstruck could be the go to site for Africa travel. You could make a lot off affiliate travel packages.
Just do this methodically and you could own the space in a few years. Think for the long term. No way would I sell that domain for a couple grand.
Here’s another vote for the Africa Site. I don’t agree that there is little demand. Maybe fewer backpackers, but lots of honeymooners and other people willing to shell out a lot of money for relatively short trips.
And then of course there are the overlanders, but these are a tough audience.
2 blogs! 2 blogs!!! try running 7 blogs….now that is challenge!
I agree that an Africa travel site has a lot of potential, both in variety of potential topics and in limited competition. More importantly, it sounds like you could develop real passion for such a project, which translates to a better experience for your readers. Regardless, I would hold on to the wanderstruck.com name for now.
@languagedude Those are great suggestions, sort of putting into words a lot of the reasons I’ve been thinking this is a good idea.
@jim I agree that having passion for the subject is important and it’s this idea that has me most excited.
@nomadicmatt I don’t know how people keep up with more than one or two blogs, expecially when they’re popular and updated regularly. Kudos! I have tried and can’t pull it off for the life of me.
I could never manage more than one blog at same time, so I must say that I also have problem with understanding someone who has more that 2-3 blogs. Well if it is for the money I could understand it… It’s just like any job. You start early in the morning and You finish late afternoon. But what to write about? That would be a problem for me. And stealing content from other sites is not the option.
# Mike @ I agree with mike that it will be difficult to work on two blogs simultaneously and especially if the both blogs are based on different subjects.
I love the idea of an Africa backpacking site. Actually there is a lot of demand for Africa travel information – it’s just that a lot of people don’t search for Africa but for individual countries…
Have a troll through the BNA and TT forums and you’ll see how broad the information is – it’ll also give you an idea of the level of demand.
I backpacked the length of Africa about 10 years ago (when the Internet wasn’t really available as a travel tool) and lugged along the big fat LP on Africa as well as the brilliant Bradt travel guides for individual countries… I was amazed at how little information there was – and at the thousands of backpackers looking for it.
So – my vote goes for Africa, especially as a woman traveler.
And – I may have a small money-making idea for you along the way, so email me (if you’ve lost my email, use my contact form – in the Scribetrotter link).
Its very hard to manage two blog at a time which are based on different interest. I think a single person can’t do it. He must need some help from other sources.
Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon.
Great site!
I’m pretty torn about which go down although the Africa idea inspires me a lot more. to write about stuff that doesn’t seem to have been done to death just yet. the idea is very well, so i like it….