You guys have made quite the splash on the blogging scene in the last few years. Can you tell us if that was always your plan to be professional travel blogger(s) or whether you’re just naturally awesome and cool people?
We WISH we had a plan. We would probably describe our journey with COTW as being more like a ‘slow burn’. Because blogging is/was such a new industry, we didn’t really start out with a set strategy and more just pooled our talents together (Meghan is a writer, Dominic is a photographer) and tailored our content in terms of what stuck and what missed the mark.
COTW has evolved into a very different offering that what we started with.
COTW has evolved into a very different offering that what we started with.
The truth is, we noticed that the most success came when we focused on what we were truly passionate about and not what we felt would be ‘successful’ based on what trend was popular at the time.
The lesson here is simple. Do what makes you happy and gets you fired up. The universe wants to give you more of what you love.
You’re a couple – totes adorbs – how long had you been together before you decided to start a blog? Was it when you realised that a publisher and a photographer would make a killer blogging team?
The blog was actually Dominic’s idea and we’d only been together a year.
I was very reticent, as I was working in publishing and blogs were jokingly considered ‘the devil’ threatening the industry. But the urge to create something that was creatively all of our own won out.
Absolutely nothing beats that feeling of being creative just for the sheer thrill of it and seeing that instant reaction from an audience. That is what keeps us going on the early mornings and late nights when we’re working on the site.
Absolutely nothing beats that feeling of being creative just for the sheer thrill of it and seeing that instant reaction from an audience. That is what keeps us going on the early mornings and late nights when we’re working on the site.
When we started we both agreed that we needed to bring our A-game in order to cut through and we treated it like a job. We were up every morning before work shooting content, every single spare moment/weekend was spent crafting shoots and writing words. The first year was tough because of that.
You really need to make sure your partnership is solid before you undertake something like this because there are a LOT of creative clashes. We hardly ever fight but we have strong ‘discussions’ about creative direction.
When we push each other to do our best work it shows. It’s like having someone behind you going “don’t be a wimp, try harder, you can do better!’ but in a loving way. The risks we’ve taken are outweighed by the rewards.
Your Instagram account is beyond gorgeous – can you tell us about your Instagram strategy and if you have any rules that you follow to make sure it always look amazing?
Instagram is a minefield!
Our first tip is to not compare your Instagram feed to others because it will send you into a vortex of negativity. HOWEVER, it’s important to stay on top of the trends and on Instagram those trends can shift in the blink of an eye.
So it’s about balance.
For instance, it’s an unspoken law now that you’d never use the official Instagram filters (rather use an app such as Camera+ or VSCO to tweak your shots).
Instagram is also fraught with nice ideas that quickly turn into clichés. Things such as shots of thighs on the beach and green juice smoothies are becoming over done.
Sad because beach thigh shots are pretty.
The best advice we ever read when it comes to Instagram is to always ask yourself before you post a shot, “is this image adding a new perspective or an original thought into the Universe?” If the answer is no, don’t post.
But then, sometimes you have to sacrifice a single shot for the overall look of your feed because you need your feed to make a good first impression.
See what I mean? Minefield!
Can you tell us about the 3 best decisions you ever made to make your blog look super appealing? What design advice would give to someone who wants to be a professional travel blogger and build an aesthetically pleasing blog?
- Spend money on a good logo.
- Find a complimentary font combination and use one for your headers and one for your text (and stick to it like it’s your personal brand).
- Negative/White space is your friend.
It takes a lot of time maintain a beautiful looking blog and social media profiles. Do you have any tips or tricks for our readers on how you maintain the constant need for quality content?
We experimented with trying to compete with the major sites by posting daily. That pressure (especially with creating the images ourselves) resulted in quite a bit of a burn out. Our motto now is post less but post quality.
The articles that you put time and effort into are often the ones that will still be giving you share traffic months/years later. Way better than some kind of click-bait traffic injection that will only last a day or more at the most.
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