It was very interesting to know survey results about the blog and read the comments with the opinion of the readers. Thank you, everyone is huge, it really became much more understandable! And I also talked to some of them in PM and they gave me specific recommendations. I will not say that I agree with everything, and not the fact that absolutely everyone will like what I would like to do in the end. But in my opinion, some changes will give Daria and me more freedom, as authors, and readers will have a choice of what to read (at least everything, at least in detail), and a person: who got on a blog from a search engine, will have a better understanding of what it is. per resource.
Blog development directions
First of all, I want to say that the blog will remain a blog. That is, nothing will change fundamentally, the blog will continue to have articles related to us, and there will be articles about travel. Actually, I didn't really want to divide it into two physical resources, because this is traffic loss in any scenario, and in time I will not pull two SDLs. Therefore, I will still try to do everything within the framework of one resource, and there it will already be seen.
Many people advised me to make new sites, but the problem is that I don't really like making sites for making money, where articles from copywriters are not particularly valuable, and in fact only clog up the search engine results. For me, this is akin to a boring office job that I once left. If you really do, then do it with benefit and in such a way that it would be interesting for yourself, and this is not at all easier and not more profitable than this blog. Therefore, if I do something completely new, it will be a project not related to content. In fact, I now need something ala «100 thousand / month with a couple of hours a day», and not another injecting. I would gladly make a useful service of some kind, but for now I'm still waiting for a million dollar idea 🙂
So, I will list what I will try to do in 2014 with a blog:
- Visual separation into personal and travel. I have not yet figured out where to include articles about blogging, but most likely everything will go into personal, except travel. In fact, the structure and menu will simply change in some way. The ability to read articles will remain the same.
- Different subscriptions and different Rss feeds. Most likely two: personal and travel. Accordingly, whoever wants to read everything will read everything, who wants only personal or only travel will be able to choose.
- Hopefully, I will decide to change the design as a whole, since for six months now I want to replace the template with a simpler-looking, but more technological one. Actually, in it, the division into two sections will be.
- The 365 days heading that was once on our blog will be returned. This is just small news about us in a free format, ala photo + a couple of paragraphs. If it does not work (neither for us, nor for the readers), then we will remove it again. The link to the heading is already in the OUR MOVEMENT block, and is called Our news.
- As a variant of the 365 heading, let's try to shoot a video about us and Egor (sort of video podcasts), it's much easier than writing articles about us, which we just don't write, and therefore there is very little personal in the blog now. If you have any ideas what can be filmed on video, write in the comments..
- We will try to write this year a little more about Yegor and a little more articles from Daria, her view. Thus, the blog will be more balanced, informative articles will be interspersed with personal ones. Again, those who are not interested in the personal may not subscribe, there is a choice.
- I really want to create a platform for communication. I see that sometimes I miss her very much on the blog. There, people themselves can create topics for discussion or ask questions. The topic will also not be one, but about the same as on the blog (travel, Thai, children, anti-consumption, etc.). Actually, again, you can only go to the section of interest. We already had a forum, but it somehow did not go, perhaps because we did not deal with it at all.
- Other authors will be recruited to write articles, both on a voluntary and paid basis. But you don't have to worry, such articles, as well as a platform for communication, will be highlighted in a separate section. The ability to read only our blog will remain.
- Surely, there will be some minor changes and tests. For example, announcements of future articles have already appeared in the sidebar on the right (Coming soon to the blog!), And you can find out what will happen in a week. Of the same planned little things: Donate button in a conspicuous place; a normal map with all the places where we have been, and links so that you can go directly to the article; some convenient feedback form or question-answer heading (can reformal?); sidebar polls, etc..
Something like this the blog will look like after a while.
Don’t ask the specifics yet 🙂 I don’t know how it will look and when I’ll do it all. That is, there are different thoughts, a new template has already been chosen and a couple of forum plugins have been tested, but a full understanding will probably come only in the process.
Other directions
In short, I will write another small list from which I will choose, and what else to try to do next, maybe in 2014, or maybe later. Based on the results, of course I will unsubscribe 🙂
- Sales of something tourist (like a mini online store). Maybe some backpacks or something for camping ... Nobody knows a good partner? You could start with her.
- Promote the topic of paid consultations on the blog, otherwise I hardly advertise it anywhere. Make a landing page and all that.
- Paid course in Thailand. However, this is a separate time-consuming direction, and it bothers me to apply the classic principles of info-business with its sickening selling pages, and without them there will be no sense.
- There is a desire to huddle some other country besides Thailand, for example, a European one. But here it’s how it will turn out, because without my family I cannot leave for a long time, but it’s not a fact that I can. Ideally, in the summer and autumn, it would be to screw somewhere where Yegor can work out and breathe in the sea air, and I would explore the country.
- WhiteLabel for air tickets and hotels, both on the blog and as a separate site. The site is already separate, just dead and brings God forbid 1,500 rubles per month.
P.S. In fact, I wrote all these lists for myself too. I will glance sometimes so as not to go astray.
