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Mommy Travel Blog

Upon getting a good kick in the arse from Baron, a long term reader of this travelogue, I have finally encouraged Chaya to start writing for Vagabond Journey.com — to begin writing about traveling with a baby. Chaya will soon begin writing what has come to be known as a mommy blog. A mommy travel [...]

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Upon getting a good kick in the arse from Baron, a long term reader of this travelogue, I have finally encouraged Chaya to start writing for Vagabond Journey.com — to begin writing about traveling with a baby.

Chaya will soon begin writing what has come to be known as a mommy blog. A mommy travel blog.

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Flagstaff, Arizona, Southwest USA, North America
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Wade’s Travel Gear | All Travelogue Entries
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Though there is a matter of logistics with this. Should Chaya write entries on this travelogue with me? Or start her own blog on Vagabond Journey.com?

There are benefits to both.

If she was to write on this travelogue, there would be no starting from scratch, it would take less set up time, and would allow readers to only need to go to a single place to read about what is going on.

Whereas if she was to write on her own blog on Vagabond Journey.com she would be able to streamline the topic — it would be a mommy travel blog, and a mommy travel blog alone. There would be now inconsistency of content, and we would be able to hone in on a specific target audience: mommies who like to read mommy blogs or families that are considering traveling with a baby. On this travelogue, I have many different topics, the content direction of this blog is very general, I like to write about a lot of things.

It is my impression that if someone was in search about information about traveling with a baby then all of the slag that I put up here about travel gear, tips, archaeology, working while traveling etc . . . may get in the way. Streamlining content is important for building a large following on the internet . . . as well as for seeking print media press and advertisers.

We, as a family, need to generate more money. A large part of Chaya writing on the internet is to make money. I am convinced that if she wrote a straight up mommy blog about traveling with Petra, she would have a larger following, more advertisers, and be generating far more income than me. She could write for a niche that is far more refined.  I write a general travel blog — there are millions of travel blogs — but Chaya could write one of only a handful of blogs about traveling with an infant.

Though, at the same time, ease of reading is also very important. Having the two blogs in one would be much easier for regular readers to get the full picture. Each time an internet publisher tries to prompt readers to click on a link they are asking a lot. I read a travel blog or two, and I know that I, myself, am hesitant to click on a prompted link to another page. If Chaya was to write on this travelogue it would not be a true mommy blog, but it would have the entire story in a single location, as well as continue building up upon the foundation that I have busted my back laying.

What do you think? Readers, what do you think would be better? What are your preferences? What would be best for you, what do you think would be best for us?

Thank you,

Wade



Booking.com

Filed under: Journalism, Travel With Family, Vagabond Journey Updates

About the Author:

I am the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. I’ve been traveling the world since 1999, through 91 countries. I am the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China and have written for The Guardian, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other publications. has written 3692 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.

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VBJ is currently in: New York City

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  • James Clark November 1, 2009, 11:34 am

    Hi Wade, I would start from scratch a new site. Get a domain that suits the subject, like “Mommy Travel Blog”, then you can optimize that site entirely for travelling with children. Focus on the niche rather than trying to cater for everyone on one site. You will pick up new visitors who are looking for the parent travel niche, and down the track if the site takes off, you will have a better chance of selling advertising if the site is focused on a niche.

    I’m not sure what hosting package you are using but I use a hosting package where I can host as many domains as I like on it. So after my first site is only costs me the price of the domain to host every site afterwards.

    I was in the same boat as you with running a blogger site and trying to transfer it over to wordpress. The great joy of starting a new site is I learnt form my mistakes and made my new sites better.

    Anyway good luck with it, I reckon you guys would make an awesome site – it would be like the antidote to the disney mom kind of travel sites out there.

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  • Bob L November 1, 2009, 11:45 am

    My opinion on this would be that there should be two different sites with two different names, setups etc. You will likely get a lot of traffic at MommyBLog. Probably more than yours, and an audience more likely to click those ads. It should have a different look, a different feel and Chaya should be free to bash you in any way she likes, I think that would really get her readers going (and clicking). Women seem to like bashing us guys, even on the rare occasion when we don’t deserve it. I think Chaya could really make a site that is entertaining and would have a large following, with lots of new readers, which I suppose are the ones more likely to click.

    What I would do then, if I were you, would be to really promote each others sites. Maybe a page now and again telling the reader to go to the other site for some interesting stories. This will probably really increase the traffic on your site too.

    Now, for a name? Mommy Blog sounds good, but misses the travel thing and is taken. Free Range Baby sounds good too, but also misses the mark. travelingmom is taken in many forms. There is even Free Range Mom and Free Range Kids. Maybe you want a name that both men and women are likely to go to? I am guessing that most of the new people are going to be women (and some men) trying to figure out how to best take their children to Disney. Then, once they get into the site, will be caught up by the courage and tenacity of Chaya and Petra’s travels (Wade who??) There is also tons of *Mommy Blogs* out there, here is a link to 50

    http://www.blogtrepreneur.com/2009/03/25/top-50-%E2%80%9Cmommy-blogs%E2%80%9D/

    There is even a vagabondmom dot net that has nothing to do with moms or travel. Vagamom ? Someone is using it, but there is nothing wrong with duplicates.

    So, maybe using VagabondJourney is the best, then you can name it anything you want.

    Lets hear some suggestions from readers with more imagination than I.

    And, while searching for a good name, rather than doing something productive, I found this site trying to bring common sense back into the world of kids:

    http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/

    Bob L

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  • david November 2, 2009, 1:03 am

    Just to say, I agree with the above 2. A seperate site with its own look, feel and appeal makes sense. And you can use both to leverage each other.

    David J

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  • reina November 2, 2009, 2:53 am

    Just leave out the mommy, mom in the name, even if the main focus will be about a woman travelling with a child. Why confine a woman travelling with a child to the mom role? I mean sure, there’s some interest in that, but I’m also sure your gem of a lady has countless other facets and interests to explore and write about………

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  • Russell Argus November 2, 2009, 3:43 am

    Hi Wade,
    I have been following your blog for some time, enjoy my travel, and like you, my circumstances have changed over the years and I have had to adapt to this as well as maintain and continue my love of travel.
    For my two bobs worth I think you should make the reading of the “mommoy blog”easy to access and as such have it attached to your site. You could either alternate your entries or both do one on the same date. I asssume that you would still attract the extra traffic generated by intrest in travelling with an infant, as well as keeping your regulars up to date. I would think that a lot of your own entrys would have comment on the baby anyway and the extra adventures that this will bring to your lives.
    Either way I would follow both but we are inheritantly a lazy bunch I would think the easier the better for most people would be the way to go.
    Good luck with your travels.
    Regards
    Russell

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  • fruugal November 2, 2009, 7:27 am

    Separate sites for sure.

    On the Road with Baby

    Around the World with Baby

    I’ve Got You Babe (in my backpack)

    Travels with Baby

    Born to Travel: views from the papoose

    🙂

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    • Wade | Vagabond Journey.com November 4, 2009, 11:17 pm

      Thank you for all of these good suggestions! We came up with something but will take a few days to release it. I will write a new entry about it when everything is a go.

      Thank you for all the help, We really appreciate it,

      Wade

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  • baron November 2, 2009, 12:30 pm

    Wade, thanks for the nod.

    Keep in mind that I do not have a blog (yet?) and I am not involved with internet marketing or affiliate sales or any of that. But I’ve read a lot about. Kind of like, “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV”.

    Having pointed out my ignorance, I think two sites is the way to go. It has to do with niche specialization, reader and market segmentation, quality back links and seperate URLs for SEO, and it just seems to make sense because you & Chaya are going to write about different things with a different voice appealing to different audiences.

    Another thought. There’s no good reason why you don’t start a daddy blog on a seperate domain for the same reasons. Vagabondjourney is about independant travel. Yes you talk about the family occasionaly, but it’s really about the act of travel, sights, and experiences. Your mommy & daddy blogs would be about parenting and your lifestyle, and your impressions of what Petra sees/thinks/feels.

    Obviously you couldn’t keep up a daily writing pace if you ran two sites. But I don’t think the daddy blog site requires daily articles. Just once or twice a week. But make them outstanding article – lengnthy, timeless content, and well written, versus timely and thrown together.

    But, you know as always, I could be wrong.

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  • Bob L November 3, 2009, 3:33 pm

    baron wrote: “There’s no good reason why you don’t start a daddy blog on a seperate domain for the same reasons”

    Wade, I really like that idea, best one I have heard yet. I would think that with the whole Niche marketing thing, that the two, er three of you would be getting at least 3 times the traffic, and more than 3 times the income for not 3 times the effort.

    Hey, maybe you could start up a Petra Blog where mommy and daddy write Petras views on the world. You could have some fun with this I suppose.

    Bob L

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    • Wade | Vagabond Journey.com November 3, 2009, 11:36 pm

      Hello Bob and Baron,

      Yes, it would be a good idea to make money by exploiting as many niches as possible. And the child rearing/ travel niche is a good one (funny how raising children seems to be a hobby of sorts, and there is no limit to how much money a person is willing to spend on a hobby haha). There would be money in this. But it is a matter of time. I can hardly find enough time to properly run Vagabondjourney.com let alone to establish two new sites. I fear that if I were to try this I my store of energy may fizzle out on a variety of split ends rather than being consolidated into a whole. But this would be a really good idea.

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