Two months ago I wrote an article titled Rejuvenation, where I spoke about how I suddenly felt incredibly motivated to push Spaghetti Traveller and re-dedicate myself to the site. What I didn’t realise is that it was coincidently exactly three years since I had bought the domain name! Weird how things work out.
I decided to change everything, start with a clean slate and get myself out of the lazy attitude I had held in the months leading up to it. With this, I needed a complete re-design of the site. I had designed it all three years before without having a clue what I was doing and it looked immensely outdated. Time for a change!
I have now made the majority of the changes to the site, I have a completely different layout and I’m ready for people to see the new look Spaghetti Traveller.
Logo
The hardest part to say goodbye to was my logo, something so simple but people would often bring up how much they liked it. But it really wasn’t that professional. I’m not an expert in graphic design, so I just had a muck around on Photoshop until I made a design I was happy with, which is now sitting on top of my site. Please do let me know what you think as everything can still be edited and modified. Below I have included the change of my logo over time to where it is now.
I’m sure this will change again over time, however for now I’m happy enough with it and I hope all my readers will be as well. For anyone that wondered…yes it is the font used in Star Wars, not sure if I saw a trailer recently that motivated me, but I really wanted the S to appear like it does on the Star Wars banners.
Social Platforms
I have always been very active on my Twitter account and have managed to build up a mass following, however despite my early success on other platforms, my passion diminished over time for many of these. The effort of keeping up with Pinterest, Instagram and Google+ just wasn’t there, while I honestly couldn’t say when I last posted on the Facebook page.
I speak to so many travel bloggers and when I check their social accounts they are all so active. I understand that many of them do this full time, while I hold a full time job here in Brighton, however I have also spoke to a number who balance the work and blogging life and still don’t rely on excuses so I don’t want to either. I am determined to never let myself fall behind like I did again.
What Is My Aim
I am setting myself a number of realistic objectives to complete by next summer, which I want to put on public display so I can be honest with others and myself. My overall aim is to bridge the gap between myself and the ‘power bloggers’ that lead the industry and gain all the attention. My key objectives are all listed below:
- Transform the Instagram account into a powerful asset
- Increase overall monthly traffic by 300%
- Increase organic traffic by 100%
- Book a trip to Asia
- Reach 20,000 Twitter followers
- Create brand guidelines to keep consistency of post style
- Run consistent video content
- Become comfortable with green screen editing
- Take a press trip
- Attend at least three blogger meetups
- Be featured in 5 national newspaper articles
Here We Go
So I’ve thrown down the gauntlet and set myself a tough challenge. People see blogging as constant fun, but they don’t always see all the hard work put in. I’m sitting here on a Friday evening writing an article and editing the site when I could be out with friends drinking. However it is important to keep the end goal in mind and keep myself motivated.
I would love to hear from others, whether bloggers or people interested in blogging, to see how you have handled the long hours and battled with keeping motivation levels high.