Yesterday I announced the launch of Travel Blog Success, a new website and community aimed at helping travelers build successful blogs.

Click here to learn more, or sign up.

In 2009, my travel blog success resulted in online earnings of more than $10,000, plus I was offered a blogging trip to Colombia to help promote tourism.  I don’t say these things to brag.  I say them to encourage other travelers to join me in taking advantage of the shifting media landscape.

How It Works

Travel Blog Success is an online course consisting of 12 core lessons, covering important topics such as choosing a domain name, building an engaged audience, search engine optimization, and how to make money online.

Unlike other blogging courses and eBooks, this program addresses issues topics to travel blogging, such as mobile technology, and keeping up with a blog while always on the move in foreign countries.

Travel Blog Success includes its own Blog where additional tips and audio interviews with subject matter experts are posted regularly.  To kick off the interview series, I spoke with Mike, Editor of Vagabondish, about the importance of web design to a travel blog’s success.

To ensure every member has direct access to me, plus a way to ask questions, network with others travel bloggers, and collaborate, there is a lively Forum.  I invited a few experienced travel blogger friends to join us there.

I’m offering an introductory rate for the first 100 members who join.  After that, a price increase is likely because I want to ensure I can continue to offer personal support to everyone who joins.  Membership comes with a 60-day money back guarantee.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below, or send me a private message (via the contact form). I’ll get back to you promptly.

You can read more, and sign up here.

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PS – I’d really appreciate it if you can help me get the word out, either by sharing this post or a link directly to Travel Blog Success (http://travelblogsuccess.com) on your favorite social media site, such as Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, or your blog.

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

The summer travel season is kicking off in the United States and Europe, which means despite the world’s economic troubles, people are heading for the beach or about to take those long desired vacations.  According to my January poll of readers, an impressive 77% intend to travel internationally for fun this year.  Whether you are ready to hit the road, or still looking for ideas, Travelgrove wants to provide objective travel information to make your life a little easier.

Travelgrove’s purpose is to help consumers compare the costs of flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises and cheap vacations from a single website.  At the same time, it features the best deals on offer by a variety of travel companies.

The search process is as simple as it gets.  When inputting the criteria for flights, be sure to check the available boxes at the bottom allowing you to compare results from sites such as Priceline and Kayak.  For example, when I searched for cheap flights from New York City to Rio de Janeiro for a week’s getaway from July 10-29, the lowest cost returned was $598 on American Airlines via the Kayak website.  Cheap indeed!  Plus, I saved time and the potential concern that the price might be less if I had just checked one more site before I made a commitment to buy.

Of course the ability to save time and money is a big seller when it comes to researching your next trip, however Travelgrove is trying to go a step further by offering World Travel Guides to help you get a feel for your next potential destination.  Full of detailed demographic information on all the countries you’d want to visit, they also feature more reader-friendly write-ups of cities to give you a feel for where you might be headed.  Underneath the guides are relevant travel deals for the same location.  Spending time on the Rio de Janeiro guide, eying those deals, proved tempting.

In addition to the search functions and travel guides, Travelgrove has also set up a new Travel Community to allow for the exchange of information and to help answer user questions.

Easy to navigate, and attractive in design, Travelgrove’s aim to make the traveling public’s lives a little simpler is a reason in itself to give them a try.

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Clint entertains Mirian

We got there around 10 pm, just as it was starting to fill up.  The tables were taken, so we set up shop at the bar, ordering a bottle of rum, along with Sprite and Coke as mixers.  It was Mirian’s birthday, which gave us extra incentive to celebrate life.  Clint was on fire with the jokes, and it reminded me of how much fun Australians have been on my travels.

Alejandra and me

I was excited to practice my salsa, and Alejandra turned out to be a great partner.  The music was much more of a crossover than I remembered – salsa, reggaeton, 80′s rock, and as always, a little Rage Against the Machine to get everyone pumped up.  Even though I could’ve sworn the bar stayed open later, the house lights came on a little before 2 am, so we paid the tab and made our exit into the rain.

We stopped for a bite to eat on Calle 10, which in typical Colombian fashion, was utterly unhealthy.  It was a mixed plate of meat, chicken and french fries.  But it tasted great, as most foods do late at night after a few drinks.

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

• map of Medellin
• yellow pad of paper – used for my Spanish/English classes with Rodrigo, and other random purposes
• personal journal and a pen
• a blue folder with copies of my teaching advertisement in black and white and color, resume, and teaching rates
• small nylon dry bag (because it rains often here)
• digital camera
• SD card reader
• mp3 player and USB cable (for recharging it)
• English – Spanish dictionary (pocket size)
• self-made flash cards for improving my Spanish vocabulary
• stapler and blue tape (for posting ads)
• bottle of water and gum
• spare change (great for buses)
• apartment keys, copy of passport, and other random bits of paper with various addresses (handy for giving taxi drivers)

In my pocket, I carry a cell phone I bought in Medellin, and a small amount of pesos.

I think that about covers it, though I am long overdue for an umbrella!

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Our team is made up of journalists, photographers, locals, travelers and ex-pats from both Europe and the Americas. We train local aspiring journalists to think critically and independently and hope to enrich Colombia with a new generation of upbeat, motivated, but most of all good journalists.

I am excited about discovering the site as it gives me immediate access to local and national news which I previously could not understand via the newspapers because of my limited knowledge of Spanish. It features event and nightlife calendars for Medellin and Bogota, offering a chance to branch out and hopefully visit different parts of the city.

While there are more English sites covering Medellin than I initially thought, I still believe this blog has the opportunity to offer a unique perspective on life in the city. My goal is to offer readers and visitors the opportunity to see what it is like for a foreigner to face the challenges of carving out his own niche in a different country and culture, before he even knows the language!

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.