Welcome to the Break Into Travel Writing Podcast 17: How to Become a Successful Travel Content Publisher with Chris Christensen.
Chris is founder and host of the Amateur Traveler blog and podcast; which won a Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers in the Audio category and the podcast currently gets more than a million downloads a year. He is co-host of the podcast, This Week in Travel, which has won 3 North American Travel Journalism Awards. He is Co-Founder of BloggerBridge and the recipient of the best independent travel journalist / blogger award from Travel+Leisure magazine’s SMITTY awards which is for (Social Media in Travel and Tourism). He was invited to the Whitehouse and attended the Travel Blogger Summit with senior advisors. He was formerly the Director of Engineering for TripAdvisor’s New Initiatives group and he has visited 37 countries.
Chris in Jerash in northern Jordan
To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below:
Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes
Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed)
If you like the show, please consider leaving the show a review in iTunes as well as Stitcher Radio. A couple minutes of your time can help the show immensely! Thank YOU!
On Episode 17: How to Become a Successful Travel Content Publisher with Chris Christensen
Find out how to grow your audience and provide content that will benefit your audience on the 17th episode of Break Into Travel Writing.
The Finer Details of This Show Include:
- How to provide benefit to your audience.
- Building an audience takes time.
- Nothing is 100% free. Comps and media rates are trade for good work.
- Why hotel rooms comps are easier to get than a media rate or comp for airfare.
- The fact the PR world is small, so make sure you are the one they speak fondly of!
- Why the Thailand government uses Chris’ podcast Amateur Traveler for English proficiency.
- Why Chris got invited to the White House as a travel blogger.
- How Chris has grown his twitter following to over 30k.
- How to tag properly in Twitter for maximum re-tweet potential.
- Which social platform he get the most engagement.
- Why you should pin to public boards on Pinterest.
- And loads more!
Chris also shares his insights on sponsored trips and why attending travel conferences are key for any travel writer or podcaster. We also discuss the importance of a media kit, what needs to be included in it and why every content publisher should have a rate sheet. Some of the main points we discuss are:
- Why every content provided should join BloggerBridge.
- How to submit to Amateur Traveler.
- How to get a press trip by doing a podcast interview on Amateur Traveler.
- How Chris received press credentials from a kingdom in Jordan.
- Why attending conferences can land you press trips.
- Why you need to hone your elevator pitch.
- The value of attending Tbex.
- Chris’ favorite Facebook Group for travel bloggers.
- Why you always need to know the Facebook group rules before you post.
- Why you must have a media kit if you want to go after sponsors.
- Who needs a portfolio vs. a media kit.
- Why every publisher needs guest post guidelines.
- Why you need to follow Google standards for follow links.
- Why your rate card needs to include a great pitch.
- Sponsorship vs. advertising rates.
- Marketing budget vs. PR budget and which one you want.
- Why consistency is so important to becoming successful.
- Why you need to come up with 20 different episode ideas before you launch your first podcast episode. Then ask yourself what is the 21st episode?
There’s plenty more Chris shares on today’s podcast including why he considers himself an accidental travel journalist and why he thinks of himself as more of a travel publisher than travel writer. Have a listen to get the inside scoop!
Episode Resources
There are so many awesome resources from this show I am going to dive them into people who were discussed and businesses and other resources.
Chris’ Morocco Trip
How to submit an article to Amateur Traveler
How to pitch a podcast episode to Amateur Traveler
Travel to Winnipeg, Manitoba podcast episode #418 on Amateur Traveler with Michael Soncina
Chris’ Media Kit for Amateur Traveler
BloggerBridge
Tbex
Trip Advisor
Urail Passes
Intrepid Travel
G Adventures
Peace Corps on Twitter
Death Valley on Twitter
National Park Services on Twitter
NMEX
Blog World
Tripit
West Coast Society of Travel Writers Conference
VEMEX
Pow Wow
Canada Media Market Place
Travel Adventure Show
SATW
Lowell Thomas Awards
Professional Travel Bloggers Association
Travel Bloggers Group on Facebook
People Mentioned on this episode:
Adam Christensen from Matt Cast Podcast
Gary Ardnt
Nomadic Matt
Nomadic Samuel
Jodi Ettenberg
Beth Whitman
Rick Calvert
Michael Soncina
Mary Jo Manzanares
Johnny Jet
Lee Abbamonte
A few of the 70 Podcasts Chris Recommends or is currently listening to:
Startups for the Rest of Us
History of Rome
History of England
Grammar Girl
Tech News Today
Connect with Chris Christensen:
Chris Christensen’s website; Amateur Traveler
Chris Christensen’s podcast: Amateur Traveler
Chris Christensen’s podcast; This Week in Travel
Amateur Traveler on Facebook
Amateur Traveler on G+
Amateur Traveler on on Pinterest
Chris Christensen on Instagram
Chris Christensen on Twitter
Amateur Traveler on Twitter
Connect with Break Into Travel Writing
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
The Aspiring Travel Writer, the Facebook group
Hope you enjoyed this episode and please join me in thanking Chris for being here! And thank you as well. We’ll see you next time!
Would You Help Spread the Word About the Podcast? I’d be forever grateful if you helped share the podcast. Click here for a pre-populated tweet to help spread the word to your friends on Twitter. THANK YOU!
Feedback on the Podcast If you have any suggestions for upcoming shows or a question for an upcoming episode, leave a comment below. If you enjoyed this podcast, I’d be extremely grateful if you would take a second and leave me a review and rating over on iTunes. Your taking a minute to do this allows me to help more people with this podcast, so I really appreciate it (once on that page, simply click on the “View in iTunes” button to leave your review — thanks very much!)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS
It very rare in the other regions to find lakes made out of glacier deposits and in plenty. This trek takes you to beautiful emerald green and turquoise lakes. The lakes reflect the most magnificent reflection of the highest mountains. To add up, it takes you to the highest walkable passes, which is as well a fantastic vantage points. The vantage point offers views of one of the world’s highest mountains. Cho La offers the view of Everest and unlike the view from Kala Patthar. From Chola pass you can see the Everest dominating the entire landscape. Finally, we as well see the Everest base camp and the Kala Patthar which is the zenith of the trek