Keeping your Travel Website and Social Media Updated

Chris Boothman
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Keeping your Travel Website and Social Media Updated

The ultimate, million dollar question for any aspiring travel website developer or blogger is how on earth do you keep your website and everything associated with it updated with the most recent material? In reality, there is just not enough time in a day to achieve what you probably want to. So how do you solve this potentially serious problem that could be detrimental to your website? It takes a lot of serious planning, organization and dedication that unfortunately we have not yet found given that we are relative newbies to this.

Website

Let’s start with the website. Ok, so you have decided that you want to document all of your travels and share your experiences with fellow travelers and the best way to achieve this is through a dedicated travel website. There are so many WYSIWYG sites and development partners out there to assist you with the development and then combining this with a free blogging software application such as WordPress or Blogger will help you achieve your goals. Or will it? Well, setting up your initial page is only the very beginning and this in reality is the easy part. I for one fell into the trap of thinking that whenever you have setup your pages how you want them, everything else will fall into place. You probably have a myriad of ideas out there of different pages and features you want to add to your site.

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The problem is, you may not know how to convey this information to your readers in the most aesthetically pleasing way. The best example of this was our “Photo of the Day Contest” that we released earlier this year. Our intentions were great and we felt that we had sufficient materials to publish a different photo every day of the year and each month we would give a prize away to a lucky winner. The problem was, we found it very difficult to allocate enough time to both locate, edit and publish our favorite pictures on a daily basis. This fell away and up to this point we have not yet figured out how we want to re-open this particular aspect of our site.

Essentially your website will have different features but the most common feature that most travel blogs have is the blogs themselves. How do you ensure that you post enough material to keep your readers interested and willing to come back to read more? At the beginning, you will have plenty of materials and you probably have a feeling that you will never run out of articles to publish. The simple response to this is that you may have a lot of material, but it is either going to be repetitive, uninteresting to the majority of readers or you will get that dreaded writers block that prevents you from communicating what you want to in your articles.

I always tell people that it is not for the lack of trying or the desire to achieve what you are intending on doing. Whenever you are working a full-time job, have a home to look after and everything else that goes into the day-to-day living of a human being, it is sometimes near impossible to find those vital minutes to write about something your readers will love and make them want to come back.

Social Media

The next aspect which is equally as important in today’s modern era of technology is the wonderful world of social media. Wherever you look today, you will see the infamous Twitter logo or Facebook sign. Did you LIKE this page? Did you FOLLOW me on Twitter? Will you RE-PIN on Pinterest? All these are examples of questions we are asked every day about social media outlets that we all love to hate. This love/hate relationship between traveler and social media makes it essential that we keep on top of our social media.

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There is nothing easy about time-management.

Time Management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity.

If only I could achieve Wikipedia’s definition on organizing my time devoted to A Brit and A Southerner. Over the next few weeks, I am wanting to get Heather more involved on this website. Heather will be the first to admit that she has great ideas but sometimes finds it a little more difficult to convey her thoughts on paper. I want to take advantage of her skills to enhance our website and social media.

In addition, I want to get a better pre-defined schedule in place so that our followers will have better expectations on when blogs will be released, social media updated more frequently and the creation of a better environment to enhance interactions from everyone associated with A Brit and A Southerner.

How do you achieve your time management goals when thinking about your travel site and social media? I am sure it is much easier for those folks out there that can devote all their time but those are the minority given that the majority of us are traveling purely for pleasure and have to fit this into our time schedules with work and family.

We are certainly intrigued to hear about all of your thoughts and are always open to suggestions on how to improve our site and be better prepared to attract more frequent visitors!

A Hidden Gem in the English Channel

Chris Boothman
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7
A Hidden Gem in the English Channel

For anyone who has traveled to England before, I am sure you are all aware of the stereotypical tourist spots such as London, Manchester, Cambridge, Oxford, The Cotswolds and Stonehenge. However, one of the lesser well known spots is located just off the south coastline of England and this really is a true ‘hidden gem in the English Channel’ for anyone wanting to just get away, relax and enjoy some beautiful scenery yet still have plenty of things to do.

The Isle of Wight is actually classified as a county of England and is located about 10 miles from the famous sea port of Southampton. The island is easily accessible with car ferries leaving on the hour 24 hours a day from three different locations, namely Southampton, Portsmouth and Lymington and they all dock at different spots on the island including Cowes, Ryde and Yarmouth. Depending on where you are located prior to heading to the island will likely determine which of these ports you set sail from but each one is very similar in terms of distance. DSC_0710

The ferry crossing across “The Solent” takes about 45 minutes and is for the most part pleasant though the weather can get a little rough sometimes causing people to stay under cover rather than venture upstairs onto the top deck to take in the beautiful Hampshire scenery in the background as you head away from the mainland. The Isle of Wight has quite a lot of history and heritage with the famous poet Tennyson residing here and also Queen Victoria who built her beloved Osborne House here which became her final residence.

The island is famous for their “Isle of Wight Festival” that takes place on an annual basis and has played host to many leading performers including Chicago, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Miles Davis and The Doors. There are a variety of great little seaside towns worth visiting on the island but here are our top 5 spots to visit if you are given the chance to explore this beautiful island:

Newport

Newport is the capital of the Isle of Wight and subsequently is located in the heart of the island with easy access to all parts of the island from this hub. If shopping is your thing, the main street here is packed full of leading British shops plus you can always find a bargain along the way by visiting some local “junk” shops! There is a myriad of dining options available for all taste buds so I am sure you will find something that you will enjoy! Newport combines a rich sense of history with modern architecture and this is very typically seen in the array of buildings available. At one extreme is the “Roman Villa” settlements that are still visible while the modern era is identified by the new bus station that are clearly pursuing the eco-friendly approach of public transportation.

Shanklin

I have visited the Isle of Wight many times growing up as a youngster and I will always remember Shanklin as being one of my favourite towns to visit. I am not really sure why because in reality there is very little to do there, but it is such a quaint village situated on the coastline but also the main street feels like it is on the side of a hill as you start at the top and work your way down into the valley.

One place that we would both highly recommend visiting is “The Crab Inn” which is a great little English pub situated in the bottom of Shanklin and offers wonderful food and drink. The beer garden is substantial in size and is a great way to spend a summer’s evening relaxing with a cold beer. If beach life is more your thing, well Shanklin beach offers a stretch of glorious golden sand well worth a visit. As I mentioned earlier, Shanklin is situated on a hill and while the beach is at the very bottom of the hill, there is a lift available to take locals and tourists from the town to the beach and back.

Sandown

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Situated just down the road from Shanklin, Sandown is a similarly sized seaside resort which has a healthy tourist population due to the sea front hotels and accommodations on offer. One of the highlights in Sandown is “Brown’s” which is a family park offering 18 hole pitch and putt courses, crazy golf and a cafe. Sandown offers an assortment of pubs and restaurants in addition to this. If you have the time, why not venture along the seafront from Brown’s and walk all the way to Shanklin. It is about 5-6 miles but it really is a pleasant walk!

Ryde

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In the north-east corner of the island is the town of Ryde which is the most populous town on the island. Ryde is home to a large esplanade area which has always been an attraction for tourists, especially those day-tripping from the mainland, as the amenities are all available by walking from the pier. A swimming pool, bowls club, ice rink, bowling alley, and boating lake are among the attractions here. Probably our favourite highlight in Ryde was the “Waltzing Waters” which is a spectacular indoor water display in tandem with music.

The world’s most elaborate water, light & music productions!

Visitors are overwhelmed by thousands of dazzling patterns

of moving water synchronised with music!

Alum Bay

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One of the most beautiful spots on the Isle of Wight is located at Alum Bay. The Needles is a row of three distinctive stacks of chalk that rise out of the sea off the western extremity of the island and is a must see for all visitors. Alum Bay hosts a variety of attractions including a miniature theme park with rides for the kids, glass blowing activities, creating ornaments filled with different colours of sand and also a ski lift which takes you down to the bottom where you can hop on a fishing boat to tour around the chalk cliffs!

FedEx St. Jude Classic 2013

Chris Boothman
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0
FedEx St. Jude Classic 2013

As an avid golfer, every year I anxiously await the PGA Tour schedule to be released so that I can plot which tournaments I can visit. This year was no different and after visiting the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial CC in Fort Worth, TX which unfortunately had a rather disappointing field, I hoped that my second tournament of the year would be a little more attractive. Over recent years, the FedEx St. Jude Classic has played host to several leading golfers though it’s timing on the schedule the week prior to the US Open usually makes less of the leading players in the world wanting to play this event.

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This year saw the likes of Phil Mickelson, Brandt Snedeker, Davis Love III, Padraig Harrington, Ian Poulter and defending champion Dustin Johnson in a field that certainly attracted a lot of attention from the Memphis locals. I was fortunate enough to visit the tournament for three of the four days and saw an abundance of quality golf from some of the world’s leading players.

Day 1 (Friday)

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An early start at 6:00AM and a 1 ¼ drive to Memphis, TN to be there around 8:00AM to watch the opening groups plot their way around a perfectly manicured TPC Southwind course. I decided to head out to the 1st hole to follow the trio of Dustin Johnson, Brandt Snedeker and Davis Love III who had started on the 10th tee and were just making the turn when I started following them. Love III and Johnson were both in contention towards the top of the leaderboard but Snedeker was clearly struggling to find his game as he was lingering the wrong side of the cut mark. Just watching how these guys plot their way around a 7400+ yard course is on its own a great tip for any aspiring golfer. Love III appeared to be hitting the ball the best out of the trio, but his inability to hole any putts outside of a couple of feet was causing to be a real hindrance for his scorecard.

This also gave me the opportunity to scope out the front nine at Southwind and I have to admit that this is one of the better courses around for spectator viewing. The tournament organizers clearly went to great depths in setting up the walk ways in ideal locations.

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My afternoon grouping was my fellow Brit, Ian Poulter, Boo Weekley and David Toms. I enjoyed watching ‘Mr. Ryder Cup’ (Poulter) but there is just always part of me that feels he concentrates too much on his charismatic dress sense (of course marketing his IJP Design clothing range) rather than focusing solely on his individual career. Needless to say, the three of them all played solid rounds of golf, though they will all probably feel that they let ‘great’ rounds slip away.

The highlights have to be seeing Poulter lip-out for a hole in one on hole 8 and then on number 12 after seeing his approach shot fail to clear the water, he took off his shoes and socks before clambering into the water and hitting a great recovery shot onto the green.

Day 2 (Saturday)

Moving day as all golfers know is Saturday when the leaderboard really begins to take shape and players want to put themselves into position heading into Sunday.

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I decided to follow Padraig Harrington and Kevin Stadler in the morning and again we were treated to an excellent array of golf. Watching the ‘lesser’ known names at PGA Tour events is a great way to get closer to the action because the crowds are all focused on Mickelson, Woods etc.

Day 3 (Sunday)

The final round proved to be a real closely fought encounter with a host of names popping up with a real fighting chance of winning the tournament. We spent the day watching a mixture of Harrington, Poulter, Mickelson and the lesser known quantities of Scott Stallings, Shawn Stefani and the eventual winner, Harris English.

We also had the opportunity to wine and dine in the FedEx Corporate Cabana which was a great way to cool down.

Standing by the 18th green at the end watching Mickelson almost hole out from the middle of the fairway (he literally knocked it over the edge of the hole to within less than 2 ft) and then seeing English hold his nerve to capture his maiden PGA Tour title was a worthwhile experience.

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For anyone that has never encountered a PGA Tour event, it really is money well spent. Even if you are not the most avid of golf fans, it is a great way to get out and enjoy the sunshine. You can go either alone or with your family and enjoy a day great out on the course.

Have you ever been to a golf tournament?  

Do you play golf yourself?

Travel Blogger Interviews – New Feature

Chris Boothman
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0
Travel Blogger Interviews – New Feature

Rather than focusing solely on our thoughts, we want to involve fellow travel bloggers and one of our new features to achieve this will include interviews with some of our blogging friends.

We want to create a community where everyone can share their ideas and what better way to do this than to learn about the best travel bloggers out there.

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Are you interested in being part of our new feature? 

If the answer is YES and of course that should be your response, please complete our following survey which we will use to create our travel blogger interviews.

TRAVEL BLOGGER QUESTIONNAIRE

What are the benefits?

This is a great way to market your site and also share your travel experiences and thoughts with other bloggers!

What are the questions about?

Pretty much everything about travel! There are only 10 questions, the majority of which are open-ended and allow you to express your personal opinions.

Will there be pictures?

You can send through the image of your choice either of yourself, your website or anything that you want displayed on your interview post. You can send them directly by e-mail to [email protected] after you have completed the survey!

Complete your questionnaire ASAP by clicking this link here!!!

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