Sunday,
February 27, 2005
So, where is the website going?
I have spent a huge amount of time on my website (initially called
www.youtravelcheap.com)
in the last 2 months. And what am I going to do now? I am going to
completely reorganize, redesign and even rename it!
Why, you ask. Well, as I started writing articles for my website
I realized that my focus was no longer going to be just on budget
travel, but that I was really much more interested in travel as
a form of discovery, adventure, exploration and learning. I truly
view travel as a way of expanding one’s horizon. All this
of course stems from my own life journey and my realization that
I need to stretch the envelope of my own life.
So I decided I had to rename the website. The new site is going
to be called www.travelandtransitions.com and it will have a completely
new look and feel to it. Of course I have to get all my content
from the existing, template-built site into the new site which will
actually no longer built with a online template-based site builder,
but with a real web design program. That’s a huge challenge
for someone like me, who has no web design background whatsoever.
In addition, this new website is really what I want to dedicate
most of my time and effort to in the long run. Of course I am still
actively involved in running my full-time business, but over the
last couple of years I have brought competent people on board that
help me run my company which will increasingly allow me to spend
more time on my new website.
Naturally becoming a webmaster doesn’t happen overnight.
I am going to have to learn lots of new things in different areas:
web page creation, search engine optimization, online publicity
and marketing, newsletter creation and related webmastering skills.
It feels a little overwhelming right now, but I am thinking I am
making good strides. Over the last week alone I have been plugging
through a pretty hefty book on search engine optimization (Search
Engine Optimization for Dummies) (not as dry as you might think)
and I have a much better theoretical understanding of this baffling
topic now.
My web designer and I sat down and in a few hours she taught me
the basics of web page creation. I still want to do the bulk of
the work myself, simply because I feel I need the knowledge, then
later on I can involve designers and other web specialists to help
me with the venture as it grows.
However, for now it’s basically just me, doing this on a
minimum budget and expanding my knowledge as I go along. I am hoping
to be able to recreate the existing content over the next month
or so on the new site.
Then I plan to power straight ahead with content creation and traffic
building since in the long run I really want to take this from a
personal interest site to a true web portal that specializes in
travel, particularly all sorts of travel other than sitting on a
beach in an all-exclusive compound with a marguerita. In addition
the website will also deal with life issues such as life changes,
career changes and strategies for creating a better life for ourselves,
whatever that might be.
See, travel comes in many different shapes or forms. Life itself
is essentially a big long journey, with different itineraries, milestones,
detours and destinations. I will keep you posted as I go along on
this journey of transforming myself into webmaster and web publisher.
Hopefully I'll be able to demonstrate that if a total non-techie
like me can acquire basic skills in this field, everybody can.
Related articles:
The beauty of a midlife crisis
- what made me start this website
My own personal mess - running a full-time
business while trying to find enough time to create this website
Reflections of a new writer
- my thoughts when I first got started
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