The World of Wanderlust blog traces the life of global travel blogger Brooke Saward – regarded as one of Australia’s top bloggers.
Brooke Saward, Founding Editor of WorldOfWanderlust.com (WOW) began blogging in December 2012 simply as a way of documenting her travels. Soon after, the WOW community was born.
Now, in 2015 Brooke says over 6m people will visit her blog.
KarryOn caught up with Brooke to try and tease out a few nuggets of wisdom for all you wannabe bloggers out there.
What made you start your blog back in 2012?
I initially started blogging out of convenience. My friends and family (and then their friends and family!) were all asking me for travel tips after I had taken a number of trips in Asia and Europe, and I quickly grew tired of writing numerous emails and answering so many detailed questions, so I started to write about my travels online.
Travel blogging is a highly competitive market, how do you manage to stay relevant and keep your loyal audience?
There are a lot of blogs out there but not a lot of them have a distinct brand image and core focus. When I started blogging I was discouraged by the number of articles I read about travel blogging being a competitive market, but I could never find any blogs that resonated with me and my preferences.
World of Wanderlust has always been about having a “personal friend” to offer readers “professional tips”, so I believe that is why it works so well at connecting with people around the world.
What’s your top tip to anyone out there who is thinking about launching their own travel blog?
I think there is still a lot of scope for entering the travel blogging market and would never discourage anyone not to start! Its all about having a mission statement for me, and always staying true to that mission statement.
My blog has been about showing people “the best of the best” which may not suit everyone, but at the end of the day that is what blogs are.
Vlogging is becoming increasingly popular, what are your tips for producing a great video?
I love vlogging! It creates such a strong connection with your audience. I think the best tip I would have is to just be yourself… especially if that is goofy, light-hearted and not taking anything too seriously.
That’s the kind of person I like to watch on vlogs!
What are the top trending destinations in 2015?
South America is incredibly popular right now and so many of the key search terms landing on my site are centred on this region.
Of course Peru is highly popular with Machu Picchu, but adventure travellers are also interested in visiting nearby Ecuador and combining these two countries with Argentina and Brazil.
For luxe travellers, I think unique hotels in isolated destinations are really leading the pack. I recently got back from a week on Sumba Island at Nihiwatu Resort, which was an incredible trip.
What’s your best travel memory?
I definitely loved bungy jumping from the world’s highest jump in Macau – it was crazy! It’s funny because I’ve never been that much of a daredevil but my time overseas solo really gave me this boost of confidence to conquer the world and do my best to see/do everything!
What’s the one thing you never travel without?
I take a pen and an “ideas book” everywhere I go as I always find the most brilliant ideas come to me at the most inconvenient times.
Checkout Brooke’s blog here