In May 2009 I set up 501 Places and posted my first entry. At the time I knew nothing about blogging and had decided to set up this site with the simple aim of keeping to a discipline of writing 500 words a day while I pitched for freelance work.
Two and a half years and 501 posts later very little has changed. I still know very little about blogging even if I’m slightly more aware of what it is that I don’t know. And as for writing 500 words a day, I’m still doing that although thankfully on most days it is for other sites where I am paid to come up with something vaguely coherent.
I have toyed at various times with the idea of monetising the site. Over time I have realised that my passion lies in writing and not in publishing or selling ad space. As I dare to call myself a writer I can’t help feeling that I should survive by producing content that others consider has a value worth paying for.
So 501 Places is a non-commercial travel blog and acts merely as my shop window. Despite the very obvious financial drawback there can be plenty of benefits to keeping a blog as a non-commercial site. Here are a handful of reasons why this approach works for me:
1. Long-term focus As I don’t make money from this site I know that I must work hard to sell my writing. This stark fact keeps me focussed on finding new projects and commissions without spending too long looking after this blog. I write on here when I can (usually twice a week) but if I don’t manage it one week no-one is going to get hurt.
In separating my business efforts from 501 Places it has been easier to focus on the activities that help pay the bills and fund the next trip. As a result, writing on here has become that bit more enjoyable.
2. Independence I prefer to explore the world together with my wife Sam. Travelling alone in any guise is work and as with all work I need to see a return on the time and effort I put into it. This does mean I have missed out on some very glamorous blog trips, but I would rather travel less often and enjoy our travel experiences together than leave Sam at home working to pay the bills.
While away I also prefer to make our own arrangements. Sure, we might miss a special attraction the local tourism folks want to show us, but I think our experiences are a closer reflection of those of a regular tourists. I’m happy to share my ‘ordinary’ travel experiences here rather than providing a promotional showcase for the destinations we visit.
One of most useful pieces of information I look for when researching a trip is the price of activities, transport and food. I try to provide this where I can, as in this post about the cost of travel in Japan. This is much easier to do when I’ve actually paid for these things myself and made a judgement on whether something is worth doing within our limited travel budget.
3. Freedom If I want a 6 week break from writing on this site (as I did last year while away on a trip) I take it. Guess what? When we came home the blog was still there and the dip in traffic didn’t last more than a week or two after our return.
5. Laid back approach to readers I don’t claim to know what my readers want or like. I don’t even know who most of them are, and that’s ok with me. I’ll keep trying to write interesting stuff and if people enjoy reading it they might stick around.
6. No selling While I don’t claim to know much about the people who visit this site, I’m fairly sure they don’t come here to buy stuff. Whether it’s cheap airport parking, cheap flights to Spain or cheap hotels in London, they surely know where to find these on the internet and it isn’t here. I prefer reading articles that are free from this type of link, so it makes sense not to include them in my writing.
4. No worrying about traffic Of course I’m happy when a post gets lots of traffic. But without the need to keep boosting my audience numbers to attract more revenue I can write about stuff that matters to me even if I know it is unlikely to attract many readers. This post about a little known museum in Kyoto is a good example.
What next?
I wouldn’t ever rule out changing my stance on commercialising this site. Perhaps the opportunities that arise, or the need to make some extra money, will mean that a change will make perfect sense. But for now, I’m quite happy to keep writing about the things that interest me and let those who read this site make of it what they will.
Mmmhhh…. Have you ever thought of the situation, that your blog could generate so much income, that you could both travel independent, only by running your blog as a business?
You still don’t need to sell it big time, like others do. You just need to generate enough traffic & have 2 banners, which everybody would accept easily. I don’t have to tell you, that your writing is of interest and could generate enough traffic.
It’s possible, even easier in the next couple of months/years as the travel industry seems to take notice of bloggers & social media.
I think of that situation a lot Melvin, honestly. Perhaps it is something that we will consider where we’re older and 501 Places has become 5001 Places. But at the moment I enjoy writing very much and Sam enjoys her work too. We get to travel as much as we want to by ourselves – the balance is pretty good overall. So for me the decision to keep the site ad-free is a commercial one, however odd that sounds.
I think we’re all watching very closely to see how the travel industry develops and works with bloggers and social media, I suspect that there are unexpected surprises ahead of us, some of which none of us can predict at the moment (who would have guessed in 2006 how things would look today with Twitter, Facebook etc).. exciting times
Andy–thanks for a thoughtful post. I’ve only written about 90 posts, and every now and then think, “why am I doing this again?” For something that generates no income, it sure takes a lot of time!
But in just a few months I’ve realized that I want to enjoy my experiences and then write about them, not plan my days around finding something to blog about. (Although, a little income might be cool!)
Stay happy!
Nancy
Thanks Nancy and a great point about being out and enjoying the day rather than thinking what to blog about. Had the same realisation over the first year, that actually over the course of a trip there will be plenty of material to write about, whether you look for it or not. And you’re writing for fun, then why spend too much time worrying about finding a story? Your blog is on my radar now – thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Thanks for publishing an insightful, honest and really interesting blog Andy. I think I started reading it before I started blogging and I really appreciate your no nonsense approach to travel and telling it like it is.
Cheers Justin – appreciate the kind words.
Thanks for this, Andy. Could I agree more? : )
One of the (many) reasons I like your site so much is because I know it is entirely non-commercial. I love it that there are no ads. I love it that you don’t retweet every post ten times. And it’s just great that you take time to write about non-mainstream things. The cyberspace is frankly inundated with dramatic, once-in-a-lifetime, gringo-frequented destinations claiming to break trends and instead endorsing them.
Would encourage you to get to know some of your readers though. Some of those contacts may grow into friendships, as has happened to me : )
Thank you Anna – and yes, you are a good example of why you should take the time to get to know your readers
I tend to think in a strange way a non-commercial blog is easier to maintain just because I don’t get to go on wild and glamorous trips. ‘Gringo-frequented destinations’ – I like that description
To me its simple. I am way too shy to be commercial.
Really I still don’t know what to do with “hey love your blog can I…” and so and so. I mean, I wonder ‘why – why me?’
I just want to write a bit (often crappy) and that will be it. No pressure (please not), no corporate (oppression) (- sorry couldn’t resist ) ambition, no appropriate blog-sized eyes or ears or whatever that might spoil the fun of what I am doing.
All I want is to disappear – no shiny brand for me!
Ha!
Oh, and I like to ramble too much to be properly monetized. Yip.
Andy, I cannot thank you enough for writing this post. I could go on for 1000 words about why. But you could probably surmise all the reasons anyway. I’m a non-commercial blogger as well, though somehow I still get invited on press trips because of other writing I do.
I really appreciated all the things you had to say at WTM events and this reinforces all of that. I’ll be tuning in more carefully in the future. Cheers!
I’m not exactly a noncommercial blog. I have a little bit of passive income that I don’t do a lot to get. But I’m not exactly commercial either. I don’t have anything to sell, I’m not service focused, I don’t even have a niche, really. I’d love to make more money off doing Nerd’s Eye View, but I’m not interested in selling stuff to my readers that I don’t love, nor am I interested in changing my focus on narrative to create a better strategy for making money. The blog has been a great portfolio, it’s got me, well, everything in travel writing that’s come to me has come because of my blog. So it doesn’t make me a lot of direct money, but oh, what it does for me is pretty freakin’ amazing.
What you said, mostly, sort of.
Thanks again for sharing your comments folks.
Conrad, you’ve got some fascinating stuff on your site (and I like your meandering style!) And shy is cool.
Kirsten, great to meet you at WTM (and next time I’ll tag along and get some photo lessons from you!) It was a great chance to see so many different folks for the first time.
Pam, what can I say? I think you’ve got this blogging thing pretty well sussed out. If I was holding a bloggers’ event I’d have you doing the keynote. Seriously.
Pshaw, Andy, knock it off, you’re embarrassing me. Also, thanks.
Andy, never thought of my writing style as ‘meandering’, but more like ‘cascading’ into the abyss of random thoughts. But meandering sounds cool, almost professional, which I guess will be a plus in case I eventually succumb for the big buck eh?
Meandering is, I should add, a compliment
Interesting post Andy! That photo is superb!
For me, having no adverts on this site is one reason why I come back to read it. Non cluttered, no distractions, clean, good writing.
A danger with relying on income from ads is that you degrade the overall site, not just in SEO terms (if you go mad with ads and place them in the wrong places) but for usability. I love 501 places design don’t go changing…. well massively anyway.