Island Vacations Travel Blog turns one year today. In each and every anniversary celebration, it has been customary on my part to reminisce, rejoice, and renew my commitment to any undertaking.
Serious travel blogging moments for the past 1 year.
Reminiscence:
My involvement in travel blogging has evolved from just a simple try to an undertaking that I am already passionately engaged in. My son, who is on full-time online job, prodded me to write for the net as he was fully aware of my writing capability in school, college and graduate days. And I said okay, I will try. Truly, I enjoyed writing in my personal blog that my son developed for me and I poured all my writing prowess into it in a free style fashion. Afterward, my son convinced me to write for the Ezine as, according to him, landing in the said article directory is tantamount to getting a seal of writing excellence. Again, I said, okay I will try. Modesty aside, I gained the status of Platinum Level Expert Author after submitting 10 articles in a span of one week. Candidly, it was in Ezine that I got hooked to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) especially the use of long-tailed keywords and other article writing norms. Nevertheless, for some reasons, I got burned out and decided to pull out all except 6 of my articles. Likewise, I decided not to renew the domain of my personal blog. Sensing that I was already on a writing break, my son again convinced me: Father why not try travel blogging? Truly, my eyes twinkled with excitement on such proposal and, after a brainstorming session, I decided island vacations as my niche as it was, and is still, closest to my heart. Hence, on December 29, 2010, my first ever travel blog post on the Kapihan View Park in Bucas Grande Island, Philippines was born.
The Kapihan View Park in Bucas Grande Island
My travel blogging journey have had its share of ups and downs. Candidly, my involvement in article writing had resulted to an SEO addiction on my part. Hence, though I knew that some, if not many, were annoyed, if not critical, with my writing style but I could not afford to distance myself from my usual writing format. And, truly, there came a time that such criticisms, coupled with some other factors, had punched a hole on my once impregnable desire to pursue my travel blogging passion and plunged my morale into its lowest ebb that, had it not been for the encouraging words of travel blogger-couple Caz and Craig, my name could have been engraved into the pedestal of travel blogging quitters.
Blessings To Rejoice:
Anniversaries are reserved for counting the blessings received. In my first travel blogging anniversary, I take this as an opportunity to name my blogging blessings one by one:
1. The opportunity to get, though not yet met, new friends. It was from the Philippine Travel Notes Travel Blog that I got my inspiration to pursue my travel blogging passion. I drew my strength from the support of Filipino bloggers Flip Nomad, Tutubi, Gael Hilotin, Gay Emami, Claire Raborar-Blaxland and the rest of the Pinoy Travel Bloggers community. Likewise, the support I got from Canadian blogger-couple Dave and Debb had kept my blogging morale afloat. Moreover, the wisdom I got from foreign bloggers Anil Polat, David Lee, Caz and Craig, Jason and Aracely and Gary Arndt and the bulk of the Travel Blog Success community had made my blogging day.
2. The opportunity to have fun in blogging and traveling. From just a mere venue to vent my writing passion, my travel blogging has evolved into an enslaving cycle of blogging about travel and traveling to blog. As a result, my travels to both renowned and unknown island vacations, island getaways and best vacation spots gave me more bonding space with my wife who usually served as my travel buddy.
Bonding moments with my wife Vanjie at Sarangani Highlands, General Santos City, Mindanao Island, Philippines
3. The opportunity to get obsessed with photography and videography. Generally speaking, travel blogging is associated with photography. In my desire to share good quality photos in my blog, I acquired a Nikon D 7000 camera, attended Training Course on Basic Photography at Cebu City and gone wild aiming my camera at any subject possible in the hope of getting nearer to the practice makes perfect doctrine. The HD Pro Hero wearable camera I won in the global contest sponsored by Dave and Debb of The Planet D Travel Blog had afforded me the chance to take still photos and video shots of the underwater world.
4. The opportunity to venture into tourism-related business. My blog posts about Bucas Grande Island, the land of my birth and abode, had elicited interests to visit the all-in-one tourist destination and had sparked queries coming from my readers on the availability of travel and tour facilities in the area. Hence, my family decided to operate the Island Vacations Country Inn, a backpackers hostel, as well as the Island Vacations Travel and Tour.
5. The opportunity to get internet fame. Most individuals, and I qualify the term most as there are others who may not agree, engaged in the net are looking forward to get high Google Page Rank for one reason or another. And I consider my travel blogging presence in the web for the year as blessed as I got the Page Rank of 3/10 within a span of 6 months and then Page Rank 4/10 recently.
6. The opportunity of gaining and sharing travel blogging income. Monetizing my travel blog was not in my dream at the start. In fact, I could not picture out what Paypal account would look like. Nevertheless, there were some advertisers who found my blog comfortable to deal business with. Hence, I grabbed the opportunity to acquire passive travel blogging income. Little did I know that the initial few dollars in my Paypal account could be utilized to support the noble efforts of the Iligan Bloggers Society for victims of Typhoon Sendong.
Quo Vadis Island Vacations? – A Commitment
I have started to dissociate myself from writing on a tight SEO format. The way it was going, I am confident that I can return to normal free style writing by 2012 and beyond and, hence, I commit myself for quality posts in the future. But, am I inclined to stay in the travel blogging world for long? Well, I myself cannot guarantee on that. So far, my travel blogging passion is still gearing up high. In fact, 2012 would be greeted with a big bang due to my 2-week furlough to travel with my wife to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore in the first half of March. The coming Year of the Dragon is indeed another opportunity for me to have more fun, fame and hopefully, fortune through my Island Vacations Travel Blog.
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