The travel blog host that I have used for the past six years - Travelpod - has decided to close up shop in three weeks. I am seeking recommendations for a replacement host that preferably specializes in travel. It should be easy to post both text, photographs, and videos. It would be nice of the host provided the service for free though I would consider a web site that charged a reasonable fee.
Thanks.
Geor(ge)
I use Wordpress. I was a failure at Wix. Wordpress is mostly easy but I am sort of an idiot with these things. My daughter set it up for me and I am able to post text and photos pretty easily. I've never tried to post a video. I use the free version.
I've been using Blogger for my travel blog for 8 years, and have found it very easy to use. I've never posted videos though.
I think the answer depends on what your goal is and who your audience is.
Are you are writing just to journal about your travels without much concern about attracting a wide audience or monetizing your blog?
Are you writing to share primarily to share photos and stories with family and friends, again, without concern for attracting a wide audience or monetizing it?
Or are you interested in promoting your blog, attracting that wide audience, and making some money?
Since you were using Travelpod, I'm guessing it's one of the first two. Either Blogger or Wordpress.com should work fine for you, but neither of them specializes in travel. You can use a travel-related theme, though.
If you are looking for something more along the lines of Travelpod, consider http://www.traveljournal.com/, http://www.mytripjournal.com/, or http://www.travellerspoint.com/.
If you do have a serious interest in creating a serious travel blog, Wordpress.org is probably the only really good option. You'll want to have your own domain and you'll probably want to buy a professional theme (although there are some acceptable free ones).
If you decide to go with WordPress, you should be sure you understand the difference between Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org. Wordpress.com is a place where you can create a blog that is hosted at that URL. Wordpress.org allows you to host a wordpress blog using your own domain and your own web hosting provider. Many providers offer built-in wordpress support and will sell you the domain of your choice (provided it's available), so you can do that all in one package.
Good luck!
Geor,
I assume you've seen this related thread on the forum......
There are several on the forum that are in the same position, so I've been working on this issue as well. If you want your Blog files transferred to another site for "safe keeping" while you figure out what to do, you might consider this website, which was suggested by Travelpod.....
The operator of this site (who is described as a "Travelpod Superfan") appears to be working towards setting up a permanent Travel Blog, so I may give that a try. He appears to be working by himself with limited finances, but he seems to be making good progress).
One other travel blog site that appears to be easy to use and somewhat similar to Travelpod is this one.....
They do accommodate photos but I'm not sure about videos or advert's. Also have a look at this, as it appears to be highly recommended.....
I had a look at Wordpress but it seemed too complicated and didn't really appeal to me.
Good luck!
I know, I am so sad!!!! I need to move all my old blogs to a new site. Sigh.
I think I am going to use wordpress... I do a teaching blog on there and it is pretty easy. Sad about travelpod though.
There is a new thing that does all you require, it's called "Facebook". All the kids are doin it. And, as opposed to a travel blog....people might actually see it on Facebook.
Just set mine up on wordpress after some hassle... seems you can put blog posts in and label them with a category, then it will organize them so they look like an extra page - so now I think it will work! I backdated them so they stay in order.... I haven;t moved it all over yet and I still need to move the photos, but I think this is going to work! Still a lot of work to do on the old ones... but at least I am ready to blog my summer.
Check it out if you want...
onatangentweb.wordpress.com
Kim :)
Richard - the bad thing about facebook is...if I wanted to look at posts I made a year or two (or 4 or 5) ago about our travels, it would be darn near impossible and take forever to find them. I'd much rather have everything on one site and easy to find. I usually do posts about our trips as we are going along, and will copy and paste them into the blog for later on when I'm home and flesh it out.
Personally, I'm not doing the blog for anyone but me, because I don't think anyone looks at it, but it is great to go back when you are having a hard time remembering where you ate or how long you might have stood in line for something (especially when I am trying to find info about previous travels to share with people asking ?s on this forum).
I'm giving Traveller's Point a go. I haven't quite figured out the photo thing, but since I'm more interested in the text of my holidays (and my photos are all on my PC anyway) I haven't looked into it a great deal. I imagine once I get my previous vacays copied over, I'll look into the photo part of it.
Nicole,
My wife keeps saying she wished she kept a journal for the same reasons you state, so she can remember the trip. I showed her my timeline from Google maps and it has everywhere we went and the pictures along the way with names of places and restaurants. If you have an Android phone and leave locations and data on Google maps automatically keeps track. It's creepy and amazingly useful all at once.
I do have an Android phone and use Google maps. How do we find this timeline, Richard? (Yeh, it is creepy, too.)
We used Tumblr for a group trip last year to allow Family and friends to keep track of us. Several on the trip had used Facebook...but that would involve "friending" people and allowing specific individuals to view it, this way, they just needed a link and anyone could pass it on.
No smartphone for me. (Yup, I'm one of those people...lol). I take ipads with me...I still like to make notes about how long we stood in line for something (if it was excessive) or alternately - how much faster something was than I thought...or any little tidbits or funny/not so funny things I may want to remember, which I can't do with just a google map.
