How to Ajaxify Your WordPress Site

This guest post is by Jeff Starr, co-author of the book Digging into WordPress.

Injecting a dose of Ajax into your WordPress-powered site is an excellent way to enhance functionality and streamline the user experience. Without touching a line of code, you can harness the power of Ajax to boost performance, improve usability, and fill your site with win.

Ajax enables your web pages to respond very quickly and smoothly to user input by loading only snippets of data instead of the entire page. The WordPress login/registration screen is a perfect example. Without Ajax, logging into the WordPress Admin requires a URL redirection and complete page load. With Ajax, users can log in from anywhere with no redirection or page load required. This translates into a more luxurious, sophisticated experience for you and your users.

Beyond the “coolness” factor, Ajax can also improve the responsiveness and performance of your site. Instead of loading new pages to leave comments, view posts, and share content, Ajax empowers users to interact with your site with greater intimacy and efficiency than ever before. By eliminating page loads, Ajax helps to save valuable server resources and bandwidth, resulting in improved performance for your site. And you can “ajaxify” just about anything: from logins and comments to navigation and updates, Ajax can speed things up, save resources, and make your site better than ever.

WordPress + Ajax = Awesome

Using WordPress, implementing Ajax functionality couldn’t be easier. By installing and configuring a few choice plugins, you can ajaxify your entire site (or any part of it) without touching a single line of code. The trick is choosing only the best plugins for your site, and only what’s needed. There are a zillion Ajax plugins available, but only a handful of them really work as advertised (or at all). Let’s check out some of the best WordPress plugins for adding Ajax to your site from within the comfort of the WordPress Admin.

• Ajax plugins for WordPress comments
• Ajax plugins for user login and registration
• Ajax plugins for the WordPress Admin area
• Ajax plugins for other cool stuff
• Ajax plugins to ajaxify everything
• SEO considerations for ajaxed content

Ajax plugins for WordPress comments

A majority of the Ajax plugins listed in the Plugin Directory are aimed at improving the commenting system. Here are five of the best plug-n-play Ajax plugins for your WordPress comments area:

• WP-Comment-Master: Put simply, WP-Comment-Master ajaxifies the entire commenting system: comment display, comment paging, comment submission, and posting. It features a great Settings page for easy integration and configuration and is definitely one of the best Ajax-comment plugins available.
• iF AJAX Comments For WordPress: Another excellent plugin for ajaxifying the comment-submission process. iF AJAX Comments enables users to preview and post their comments without refreshing the page. It includes a ton of options for fine-tuning required fields, CSS styling, status messages, and more. It also features a host whitelist for tighter security.
• AJAX Comment Page: AJAX Comment Page is a nice little plugin that ajaxifies the display of your comments with a fancy slide-in effect. It works great for paged or unpaged comments and includes a simple Settings page to control the number of comments per page.
• Ajax Comment Preview: So far, this is the best plugin I’ve found for true comment previews. Ajax Comment Preview enables your users to see exactly what their comments will look like when submitted. This plugin uses Ajax to send the preview through WordPress’ “inner voodoo” and then instantly display the results. The plugin features a nice Settings page to control functionality and integrate the comment preview with your design.
• AJAX Report Comments: One of my favorite Ajax plugins, Ajax Report Comments enables your visitors to report inappropriate comments with a single click. The Admin page includes basic settings and an email template. This plugin offers truly tight functionality and amust-have for sites with tons of user comments.

Ajax plugins for user login and registration

Ajax can literally revolutionize the user login/registration/lost-password experience. Instead of requiring multiple clicks and page loads to log into the Admin, here are three plugins that ajaxify the entire process into a single click.

• Login With Ajax: Login With Ajax is a popular, well-ranked plugin (it has over 45K downloads). It enables users to log in, register, and recover lost passwords from the sidebar (via widget) or anywhere in your theme (via the login_with_ajax() template tag). It features a great Settings page with role-specific redirects and custom registration email templates.
• iRedlof Ajax Login: Much more than a login widget, iRedlof Ajax Login adds a complete user dashboard to the top of the screen. The dashboard is pre-styled and includes complete login functionality as well as links to random posts and admin menus personalized to each user according to their role. Downsides: there’s no Settings page, and you need to add updateHeader() to your theme template.
• AJAX Login Widget++: Another good plugin for Ajax-powered login, registration, and password functionality, this one also features login redirect. The login form can be placed in your sidebar with a widget, or anywhere else with add_ajax_login_widget().

Ajax plugins for the WordPress Admin area

On the other side of WordPress, the Admin area is another excellent place to enjoy the smooth and sophisticated comforts of Ajax. Unfortunately there aren’t quite as many Ajax-based Admin plugins to choose from, but here two that are both fun and useful.

• Ajax Plugin Helper: It’s simple: save time while keeping up with WordPress plugin updates. Ajax Plugin Helper lets you activate, deactivate, delete, and upgrade plugins without leaving the Plugins page. Very smooth stuff, and there’s even an “Upgrade All” feature for knocking out multiple upgrades with a single click! Nice.
• Admin Ajax Note: Ever wish you could leave notes and stuff for other admin users? Admin Ajax Note makes it easy with an Ajax-powered notepad in the upper-right corner of the Admin area. Create, edit, and delete as many notes as you want, and share with all users, one user, or none. Good stuff.

These two plugins are great, but it would awesome to add more to the list. If you know of any sweet Ajax Admin plugins, please share them in the comments!

Ajax plugins for other cool stuff

Here are some other keen plugins for ajaxifying different parts of your WordPress site:

• DynamicWP Contact Form: The DynamicWP Contact Form puts a floating Contact button on the upper-left side of the page. Click the button and the dynamic contact form slides into view. Messages are sent via Ajax to keep the user on the same page throughout the process. Snazzy indeed, but the styling is distinct and may need to be tweaked to fit your design.
• AJAX Calendar: An ajaxified version of the classic WordPress calendar, AJAX Calendar enables you to browse the months without reloading the page. It features a link to display all posts for the current month, as well as a caching option to enhance performance. If you’re already using the classic WP calendar, this plugin is highly recommended.
• Ajax Category Posts Dropdown: This plugin is perfect for sites with lots of subcategories. Ajax Category Posts Dropdown lists your categories in a dropdown box. When a user clicks on a category, all posts from that category are displayed via Ajax. Easily display the list in your sidebar via widget, or anywhere in your theme via the acpd_display($acdp_title) template tag.

Ajax plugins to ajaxify everything

One of the coolest things to ajaxify is your WordPress navigation, so that when users click to the next post, it’s loaded instantly and on the same page, without a reload. Here are two awesome plugins that use Ajax to load posts, pages, comments, and archives to basically ajaxify all default functionality on the public side of your WordPress site.

• Ajax For All [Demo]
• AJAXed WordPress [Screenshots]

As with any plugin that greatly modifies WordPress, these plugins involve a lot of options. You’ll need to spend some time to understand and configure them properly. Most of the other plugins mentioned so far are plug-n-play, but Ajax-everything plugins like these require some time to familiarize and customize.

SEO considerations for ajaxed content

As you ajaxify your site, keep in mind that search engines aren’t yet crawling or indexing ajaxed data, so make sure you’re enabling Google et al to find your content. There are numerous solutions to this challenge, the easiest of which involves the use of a well-linked sitemap and actual HTML content delivered via noscript tags.

Also consider SEO when ajaxifying your comments. User comments add content to your web pages, but they won’t be crawled, indexed, or considered in page rank if they’re served with Ajax. For many sites, this shouldn’t be too big a deal, but it is something to think about.

For more information on Ajax and SEO, check out Scott Allen’s article, AJAX, Web 2.0 and SEO.

Wrapping up

These are the Ajax gems that I’ve managed to find, but many other great plugins are available. If you know of any good WordPress Ajax plugins (or themes!), please share them in the comments. Thanks!

Jeff Starr is a web developer, graphic designer and content producer with over 10 years of experience and a passion for quality and detail. Jeff is co-author of the book Digging into WordPress and strives to help people be the best they can be on the Web. Read more from Jeff at Perishable Press or hire him at Monzilla Media.

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Adsense Ready Wordpress Themes

Mention Google Adsense to anyone that is making decent money online, and they will probably have something negative to say about it. It’s true… Adsense doesn’t get the love it deserves. As much as everyone loves to hate on the thought of running Google Adsense on their site and losing site visitors for pennies, Google Adsense did help pave the way to online advertising and affiliate marketing. It’s also safe to say, Google Adsense is the “easiest” way to make money with a web site.

Not only is Google Adsense the easiest way for anyone to make money with an established web site, but it’s also become a huge favorite in the blogging space. The thing about blogging, is so many people are blogging simply to blog, not many people are blogging for money or know how to make money. It’s easy enough for a blogger to copy and paste a code and maybe make a few bucks with Google Adsense.

One the other hand, making blogs that are strictly used for building tight niche sites and monetizing them with Google Adsense is another issue. There are literally billions of different tight niche sites that you could build a mini blog about and make a few dollars a day to a few hundred dollars a day (using Google Adsense) if you get indexed into Google, have decent content and the necessary backlinks.

Whether you are just looking for a new blog theme and would like to try out Google Adsense, or you want to take a stab at the mini blog / Google Adsense game, I’ve compiled a list of the top Adsense Ready Wordpress Themes available around the web. All of the themes I have listed here are free to download, and I’ve also listed a few other useful resource sites at the bottom.

Golod Adsense Ready Theme:
A 3 column AdSense ready theme, which leaves a lot of room for customization and improvement with it’s header, social widgets and right/left columns.

Live Demo | Download | Template Home

Prosense Adsense Ready Theme:
A very simplistic 3 column AdSense ready theme that comes in three different colors. Easy user navigation and not forcing Adsense down the user’s throat, makes this a good choice among other Adsense ready themes.

ProSense | Download Prosense | ProSense Gray | ProSense Blue

Blueiz Adsense Ready Theme:
A simple design with a 2-3 column layout, but the proper ad placement and content, it won’t look like your typical bland Adsense ready theme.

Live Demo | Download

Monetizing the Web Adsense Ready Theme:
A very clean design which blends content and Adsense nicely. Leaderboard, skyscraper, regular banner ads and and content area Adsense spot all availalbe with this theme.

Live Demo | Download | Template Home

SEOMaxAds Adsense Ready Theme:
This theme pack comes with 16 different themes for Google Adsense monetization. From the screen shot below you can clearly see how monetized the site is for Adsense placement as it’s right in the users face.

Live Demo | Download

Other Adsense Ready Wordpress Theme Sources

42 Adsense Ready Wordpress Themes Optimized For Monetization

18 Adsense Optimized Wordpress Themes to Maximize your Contextual Ad Earnings

The Ultimate List Of Adsense Ready WordPress Themes

There is actually a large amount of Adsense Ready wordpress themes out there, but the few I selected have the best layouts and color schemes. If you know how to code a bit, you can easily download any of these themes and throw together a decent looking blog, but keeping the same Google Adsense concept in mind.

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8 Critical Questions You Should Ask Yourself as a Blogger

“I’m at a point in my blogging career where I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

Every blogger reaches a point in time where they find themselves struggling, it’s normal. However, the challenging part of that struggle is finding out what exactly are you doing wrong and how can you correct it. I’ve watched as thousands of bloggers throw away their blogging career, just because they were unable to answer this kind of question. After being in the blogging industry for about 19 months, I’ve studied blogs and bloggers as well as the points where they go wrong. In my 19 months of being in the industry, I’ve gathered 8 critical questions bloggers forgot to ask themselves.

1. Are you blogging about your passion?

The beauty of blogging is that you have the ability to talk about something you love. If you put hard work and effort into it, chances are you will succeed. But, if you’re not blogging about something you’re passionate about, what’s the point of your blog? Are you blogging with hopes to make money? You can do that with any niche that has people who are interested in what you have to say. So why not make it a niche your passionate about? People will be able to tell if you’re actually passionate about what you do. The desire to over deliver, and give your blog your all can only be done by someone who is truly passionate about what they’re doing.

2. Do you know your audience?

A critical part that will determine your blogs success is how well you know your audience. The better you know your audience, the higher the chances are you can cater to their needs and help solve their problem. Another problem with not being aware of your audience is, how do you really know what they want and don’t want? What about all the posts you’ve been writing, do you really know how many of them your readers find useful? Are you wasting your time writing posts that aren’t benefiting your community?

3. Are you building a community?

Having a strong community can either make or break your blog. If you’re serious about blogging and wanting to better yourself as a blogger (which I assume you do since your reading this post), you should be serious about building a community. A strong community is like having a family; through your ups and downs as a blogger, your community will be there for you. They will love you, support you, and spread the word about your blog.

4. Are you solving your reader’s problems?

When people arrive to your blog and read your posts, are they going to leave with knowing something new? Or are they going to leave your site the same way they entered – confused and wondering what to do next. Take Problogger for example, it’s the world’s most popular blog for blogs about helping others to become a better blogger. If Darren posted about what he ate for dinner, or what he had been doing his entire day, would Problogger be where it’s at today? Absolutely not. He was able to get where he is at today by providing help useful material to new bloggers by finding out what problems his readers were facing and wrote about them.

5. Are you instilling the urge for community response?

What kind of vibe do your posts give off? Do they give the “I don’t care about your input” vibe, or do they give the “This post won’t be complete without your input” vibe. Having a comment section does not instill an urge for community response, your posts are what instill the urge. Try ending your posts off with a “Group discussion” or a “What do you think” section at the end. Ask your readers what do they think about the topic or what would they add to it. Give them a reason to comment, and show them that you want to hear their input. You can also write posts that connect with your readers deeply which will bring will allow you to see a more heart-felt comment. When your readers leave a comment, respond to it. Spark a discussion and share your input on top of theirs.

6. Are you a “thinker” and “planner” instead of a “doer”?

You will always hear someone say “I have a million dollar idea”, but you never see it happen because they don’t take action. Maybe you “plan” for the big day where you will become a six-figure problogger, but are you actually taking the steps to make that happen? A quote I like to think of is “It’s not what you know, it’s what you do with what you know.” The quote has so much meaning behind it, because thinking about something isn’t going to make it happen. Find your idea, write it down and actually do it. If you struggle, don’t give up, learn from your mistake and try again.

7. Are you blogging with a backup plan?

Every blogger should blog with a backup plan in mind, point-blank.
Diversifying your income streams
Having multiple traffic sources
Making sure your blog is being backed up daily
These are all backup plans you need to have. What if you wake up one day and find out that your blog has been hacked and you lost all your files? Do you have a backup of your site? What happens when Twitter dies out and that was your main traffic source? You suddenly lost all your blog traffic. You need to be willing to plan for the unexpected, because it can happen and it can happen to you.

8. Are you striving to over deliver on each one of your posts?

I’ll be blunt here. Being a consistent blogger doesn’t mean anything if you’re not striving to deliver the best on every post you write. If you hit the stage where you’re facing bloggers burnout to the point where you are struggling to find a good post to write about, take a break and ask for guest post submissions. The quality of your posts define the quality of your blog, and most importantly defines the quality of you as a blogger. So make sure you over delivering, or don’t deliver at all.
Are you asking yourself these 8 questions?

I’ve watched thousands of bloggers fail, but I’ve watched only a handful succeed. Ask yourself these questions, and be truthful about your answers. They can only benefit you for the better, so make the most out of it. Are there any self reflecting questions you believe us bloggers should be asking ourselves?

About the Author: Rob Rammuny is a 16 year old Internet marketer/blogger who teaches other’s how to make money online at his blog Robswebtips.com. If you’re interested in learning how to make money online, check out his website for a free course.

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13 Tips for Beginning Bloggers (Which I Learned the Hard Way)

This article is by Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project.

I started The Happiness Project blog as a way to test the argument that novelty and challenge bring happiness (turns out they do!), but I knew nothing about blogging when I began.

Here are some strategies that I learned the hard way, through experience. As Benjamin Franklin once remarked, “Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.”

1. Start simple. Add bells and whistles over time. Many people get paralyzed at the outset, because they’re overwhelmed by the desire to figure everything out before launching. Don’t get it perfect, get it going.
2. Post every day. It’s counter-intuitive, yes, but strangely it’s easier to post every day than to post three or four times a week. You don’t procrastinate, you loosen up, you stay engaged with your subject, and you’ll be taken more seriously by readers. But if you stop writing for a while…
3. Don’t point out that you’ve been lax about posting! It’s boring, it shows a lack of commitment, and maybe readers won’t notice if you don’t say anything.
4. Include the text of the post as well as the URL if you want to bring a post to someone’s attention by email. Often, people won’t bother to click through, even though they might like your post if they did!
5. If you feel squeamish about posting something—don’t. Wait a day or two, and think it over.
6. Join the community. Link to other bloggers who write about your subject, shine a spotlight on their work, get to know them. Blogland is a friendly, helpful place—and the truth about human nature is that people become interested in you when you show an interest in them.
7. Read about blogging. My favorite resource is ProBlogger, of course.
8. Use lists when possible. People love reading lists, especially tips lists. I know, tips lists seem like a simplistic way to present information. But people love them. I post a tips list every Wednesday.
9. State the purpose of your blog very prominently. A new reader shouldn’t have to ask, “What’s this blog about, anyway?”
10. Maintain quality. I have checklist to try to keep my posts interesting and my voice true:
    • Am I being funny?
    • Am I giving interesting information from science, history, literature, etc.?
    • Am I revealing my character?
    • Am I telling stories?
    • Am I showing what it’s like to live in New York City?
    • Am I linking to other bloggers?
    • Am I comfortable with my parents reading this? (I never work blue.)
    • Am I criticizing anyone except myself?
11. Keep a separate document containing your blog entries. I have an 800-page document containing every post I’ve ever made. That way, I can easily search, copy, and paste the material on my blog when I need it for other purposes.
12. Keep a running list of ideas. Invaluable.
13. Most important? Have something to say with every post, and with your entire blog. This sounds obvious, but it’s a lot easier to write when you’re trying to tell a story, explain an idea, give a review, link to an article, or whatever. If you’re having trouble with your blog, forget about the blog and focus on what you want to communicate instead.

More experienced bloggers, what are your top tips to help those just starting out?

This article is by Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project. Follow her on Twitter @gretchenrubin, and buy the book THE HAPPINESS PROJECT, the #1 New York Times bestseller.

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Your Readers Buy Products! Do You Offer Them?

Recently I gave a presentation on monetizing blogs. I talked about how developing your own products to sell to readers can be an effective way to build a blogging income.

During a question-and-answer segment of the presentation, one blogger stood up and said:

“My readers don’t want to buy products! How else can I make money?”

It was a question that I’ve heard many bloggers ask over the last year—and one I used to ask myself.

I once was afraid that if I dared develop a product and promote it to my readers, they’d push back—and push back hard. However when I bit the bullet and did produce a product, I found that my fears were unfounded.

Readers buy all the time—we all do. We buy to survive, we buy be entertained, we buy to learn, and we buy to enjoy our lives.

I asked the blogger who asked this question what topic they blogged about, and she told me that she was a travel blogger. As a group, we quickly came up with 20 or so things that people interested in travel buy (guide books, luggage, accommodation, flights, and more). Her readers were buying products all the time—she just wasn’t offering any.

Readers do buy. Many even enjoy the process and go out of their way to be sold to. My lovely wife is one example: she amazes me with the amount of time she puts into researching and buying products online (she’s an online marketer’s dream come true!).

The problem isn’t that blog readers don’t want to buy—they do!

What readers don’t want is to be annoyed.

In my experience, it’s not that you have a product to sell that turns readers off—it’s the way that you promote it that has potential to offend.

• Readers don’t like to be tricked.
• Readers don’t like false hype.
• Readers don’t like bait-and-switch tactics.
• Readers don’t like finding that they’ve bought a low-quality product.
• Readers don’t like aggressive and intrusive selling.
• Readers don’t like being badgered and annoyed repetitively.

I think many bloggers balk at the idea of developing a product to sell on their blogs more because they think that to sell, they’ll need to use the above tactics, and annoy their readers. We’re so used to seeing these techniques practiced by internet marketers that we think it’s the only way.

It’s not.

I love what Sonia Simone recently said in a presentation at Blog World Expo. She said, it’s not about “selling” to your readers—it’s about making them an offer.

It’s not about tricking people—it’s about producing a compelling product that meets their needs and offering it to your readers in a way that represents a win/win transaction. It’s about making the offer in a way that allows your reader comes away from the interaction in a better position whether they buy the product or not.

There’s much that can be written about how to make these kinds of offers (and in many ways, that’s why we developed Third Tribe Marketing), however I think the starting point for many bloggers is shifting their mindset.

The starting point is to realize that in most cases is’t not buying that offends people—it’s the sales techniques that annoy.

PS: Brian Clark provides a good post on offers here.

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Your Blogging Questions Answered

I get emails all the time asking about what the best ways are to make money with blogging, how to get a blog noticed, what the best niches are to blog about, and so on… I usually reply to the emails, but a lot of times they are the same questions. I’m working on a new project for blogging and would like to compile a list of your top blogging questions. Not only will I be answering your individual questions, but this page will also act a resource for many, whenever they are looking for advice, questions and any off the wall ideas for blogging.

To get you started, I’ve posted a few questions I’ve received over the years, along with my response. I would greatly appreciate if you could leave a question or two in the comments area and I will leave an answer to each and every question about blogging.

Q: Why did you decide to start blogging?
A: I actually thought about blogging for a couple years before I actually got started, but wasn’t sure if it was something I wanted to get into. The decision to start blogging was one of the best I’ve made so far. Not only has it opened a whole new world for meeting new people and making new business contacts, but it’s also become it’s own little successful business on the site. The branding and authority that has been received through blogging has also been tremendous.

My original intention for starting the blog was to document stories, concepts and ideas that I had worked on and experienced over the past decade, while also helping others learn how to start making money online as well. Over the past few years the blog has accomplished all of this and much more.

Q: What is the best way to monetize a blog?
A: This answer to this question really depends on the niche that your blog will be focusing on. When I first started ZacJohnson.com, I wasn’t focusing on monetization for the first year, then I decided to go with sponsor advertising. The sponsor advertising is the main revenue generator for this blog. I would focus on providing quality content, while the advertisers could target the direct audience that is perfect for them. It’s the perfect combination for any blog owner.

Other methods for revenue generation on a blog include; affiliate marketing, direct sales, creating your own product and exclusive content. Affiliate marketing is easy enough to understand, which can be as simple as linking to Amazon.com and using your affiliate link whenever you mention a product or book for sale on their site. Direct sales is where I focus my efforts, which is basically selling advertising on your blog. Creating your product is one of the best ways to build your brand and make a significant amount of money, as you will earn 100% of all sales through your blog. If you want to build a premium membership or forum around your blog, you can do this through a monthly or annual membership, which gives your premium readers access to special tools, articles, case studies and even direct contact with yourself.

I hope you enjoyed these first few blogging questions and I would really like to see a few questions from all of you. Thank you for reading, and please leaving your blogging question in the comments below.

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Seven Tips to Start Your Travel Blogging Journey

This guest post is written by Matthew Kepnes of Nomadic Matt’s Travel Site

So you want to be a travel writer? So do a lot of people. In fact, I can’t think of one person who wouldn’t love to get paid to travel. To try, lots of people start travel blogs. Some just do it for fun; others do it seriously. Some would like to get paid but can’t be bothered to really put in the time, so the few hundred they make off advertising is enough for them.

In 2008, when I started my travel blog, I could count the number of travel blogs on one hand. Now, there are hundreds upon hundreds: it’s a cluttered field. So how can you create a successful travel blog that moves beyond the clutter, gets you noticed, and helps fund your travels? Here are my top seven tips.

1. Be an expert.

The best travels blogs are written by people who have traveled, or are traveling. No one wants to take travel advice from someone who doesn’t travel. Many travel bloggers start blogging months before they actually start traveling. But the casual readers you want to attract want tried and tested travel advice. They want an expert—someone with experience. It’s simple advice, but it’s so often overlooked. People who start a blog six months before their trip and realize they don’t have content either stray off their subject, or commit the next sin…

2. Skip the generic advice.

One of the mistakes most beginner travel bloggers make is that they write generic articles. They make lists of what to pack, lists of how to pack, posts on how to find a cheap flight, or other topics every traveler should know. Google any of these terms and you’ll find millions of results.

When I first started out, I did this too, but in order to be successful, you need to differentiate yourself. Yes, these tips are important and I have a special section on my site for beginner tips (after all, beginners need them). But they don’t retain readers over the long term. You need to be different.

What advice can you offer that no one else can? What experience can you impart? For example, I talk about money a lot. I talk about how to use frequent flier programs for free flights and find unadvertised deals. I break it down. I show you, rather than telling you. I don’t tell you what to pack. I tell you where to go and how to save when you’re there. Forget about an article called, “10 Things to See in London.” Instead, write a piece titled, “A Historical Walk Through London’s WW2.” Tell people information that can’t easily find—take them off the beaten track.

3. Be a good writer.

Travel is about a telling a story. You want to bring someone else on the journey. Travel isn’t about you: it’s about your reader. In telling a travel story, you are putting the reader in the picture, connecting them to that place and time. You don’t need to be Ernest Hemmingway or Bill Bryson, but you can’t just blog about what you did on Sunday.

A good travel blog tells a story that brings people to the place. Most people won’t end up going to that location, but what keep readers coming back to your blog is telling a story that your reader can relate to. For example, my post on making friends in Ios is about Ios but it’s really about connecting with people. That’s something everyone can relate to. My post on Budapest describes good things to see in Budapest, but also talks about the joy of enjoying understanding local culture. Write a story that connects with your reader.

4. Be a personality.

When you think of ProBlogger, you think of Darren Rowse. The Four Hour Week? Tim Ferris. SEOmoz? Rand Fish. When we think of big sites, we think of the personalities behind them—their creators. They are the personality, and we identify the brand with them.

If you’re going to be a successful travel blogger, you need to be a personality. You need to be out there dominating a certain travel niche. Be the best backpacker blogger, be the best boomer blogger, or the best family travel blogger out there. This means having a voice on Twitter, having personality in your posts, and relating to people. You are the voice. And people are going to follow you because they have a vested interest in your life and your travels.

5. Or don’t.

If you don’t want to be a personality or deal with social media, and you just want to relax, another way to make a successful travel site is to create destination-specific blog. Destination-specific websites rely on SEO. These sites are a bit less work and can bring in a lot of money, but you’ll never be a “name.”

Sites like Travel Fish and Boots N’ All are very good, have a lot of traffic, and make a lot money—but could you name the person behind them? Most can’t. Probably most people in the travel industry can’t either. But creating a destination website is your best alternative to creating a travel blog, where you need to be a personality. All you need to do is focus on some juicy keywords, and yours can be the number one site on Mexico.

6. Use photos.

Most people don’t travel all the time. However, we all love seeing beautiful places we’ll never visit. That’s we all had tropical island posters back in college, and calendars in our cubiclew. It’s why we love The Big Picture from Boston.com. How many of you have really read National Geographic? Mostly we just look at the pretty pictures.

People simply love good photos. So have big photos that attract the eyes. You can write a great story, but without images, you won’t get a lot of return visitors. I would love to hear about your safari. But you know what I would love more? Huge pictures of the Serengeti, lions, elephants, and gazelles. Travel is as much about photography as it is about writing.

7. Stay focused.

Pick a niche and stick to it. Remember: you want to be an expert. No one wants to hear about backpacking from someone who takes cruises or women’s travel tips from a guy. When you’re an expert in your niche, you attract traffic naturally because people always go to the best for information. You don’t buy books on physics from college students—you buy them from Stephen Hawking.

Don’t try to be everything to everyone. That’s the worst thing you can do in the travel niche. The world is a big place and there are simply too many ways to travel—you could never be good at covering them all with authority. Just because you have a travel site doesn’t mean you should talk about all the forms of travel. Stick to what you know.

Travel is such a personal experience that you will turn people off quickly if they don’t think you actually know the location and type of travel you are talking about. The good news? Travel is a big industry: you’re sure to find readers if you blog in this space.

Do you have a travel blog? What tips can you add?

Matthew Kepnes has been traveling around the world for the past four years. He runs the award winning budget travel site, Nomadic Matt’s Travel Site and has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian UK, AOL’s Wallet Pop, and Yahoo! Finance. He currently writes for AOL Travel and The Huffington Post For more information, you can visit his Facebook page or sign up for his

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