This week’s p52 challenge was inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech.  Which was really difficult for me, until I was looking through photos I took with my phone camera this week.  And then it hit me.

My dream really lies in my children.  They are my greatest challenge, my greatest accomplishment.

My dream is that they never lose the wonderful spirit they have now.  As children we believe we can do and be anything.  We follow our own fashion sense, welcome the chance to try something new and have no preconceived notions.

Individually I hope Brenna, my eldest, never loses her inquisitive-ness.  She is filled with questions and ideas, always considering how and why.  Caelan, my youngest, has a flair that is all her own.  I hope she never listens to those around her who would put out that flame of individuality.

I took this photo with my DroidX and used the Lomo effect tool.

Wishing you safe rambling this holiday season and plenty of time to enjoy family and friends!

I’ll be taking my own hiatus this Christmas to enjoy time with my family and work on some new and exciting things for 2012!  Plans include a new site design and expansion of my Ireland with Kids site. 

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Like most people, I like to think I am making a difference.  Sometimes it can seem so overwhelming, that the need is just too great.  The thing I try to keep in mind is that if I have helped one person, if the small thing I have done has changed the life of one person, it was worth it.

Sometimes making a difference requires sacrifice (like the time and gas it took to deliver over 200 pair of shoes to Soles4Souls in Nashville after the earthquake in Haiti).  Other times you can make a difference just by doing something you would do anyway- like buying clothes for your kids.

Olive Juice Kids recently partnered with Clothes4Souls.  With every item purchased at their new site Olive Juice Gives they will give one item of clothing to Clothes4Souls to be distributed to children in need.  I love this because it’s an item for item donation- each piece of clothing you buy is really two, one for your child and one for a child in need.

Olive Juice Kids makes cute, wearable clothes for girls, boys and babies. My absolute favorite is the Georgia dress…  I’ve never really had the urge to dress my girls to match, but this dress may just be the perfect dress for family photos…

Olive Juice Georgia Dress

While you are preparing you kids for back to school, family photos or cute holiday outfits why not get and give?  I always enjoy shopping I can feel good about...

Disclosure:  This post is sponsored by Olive Juice Kids to help clothe the approximately 300 million children in the world who don’t have adequate clothing.  As compensation for this post I was allowed to choose an item from the Olive Juice Gives catalog.  Thoughts on shopping and giving are my own.

I don’t write here at Family Rambling about the “business” of travel blogging, though I do get emails asking for my advice on a pretty regular basis.  I was approached by Blog Conference Newbie to share my knowledge as part of the BlogHop Blog Conference at Home, an online “conference” filled with helpful information for bloggers. To see the full agenda of learning sessions visit Blog Conference Newbie by clicking the button to the right.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Travel Blogging

Outside the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor, LeMars, Iowa

When I explain to people what I do I hear, “I wish I had that job!”  And I’ll admit- I have been offered some pretty great opportunities.  But long before those opportunities presented themselves I had to prove myself to the blog-o-sphere that I was worth reading.  I now publish two travel blogs (Family Rambling and Ireland with Kids) and have learned a few things about what it takes to start a travel blog, continue it long term and succeed in a world of similar voices.

Do Know Your Niche Where does you passion lie?  Is it family travel, luxury travel, backpacking or maybe a specific country like Ireland or Italy?  Define your niche in your about me page and in your meta tag to make your site easy to find in searches.  As far as I am aware, I am the only blogger who writes exclusively about traveling in Ireland with kids; because my niche is so defined I have seen exponential growth since the site’s debut in March and have a bounce rate of below 10%.

Don’t Stray Too Far From Your Niche  When your email box begins to fill with offers for advertising don’t let the money sway to too far from your core audience.  If you cater to budget travelers an advertisement or sponsored post for hostels would be a great fit; a 5 star resort, not so much.

Do Know Your Voice  Are you a story teller or a how-to writer?  Know your writing style and perfect it.  Your audience can tell if your writing style is uncomfortable for you.

Don’t Just Write for SEO  Sure, you want your posts to rank high on the search engines, but don’t write just for them.  I find it is easiest to write my article then do a quick search in Google Keyword Tool for what I think people will search for when looking for my topic.  I will then make sure I have one or two of the keywords in my post.

Do Use Lots of Photos  You know the adage “A picture is worth a thousand words”?  It’s true.  Take lots of pictures and use your best ones to tell your story.  Experiment with video.  And don’t forget to show the food- people love to see images of food!

Don’t Forget to Alt Tag Your Images  Hover above the photo of my family above.  You’ll see that a tag pops up that says “Outside the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor”.  That is an alt tag.  Search engines now use photos and video in searches and a descriptice alt tag will make your post more likely to be found than a random set of numbers.

Do Be Prepared to Spend Your Own Money  I don’t know anyone who said, “Hey, I’m a travel blogger” and was handed free travel without a decent portfolio or media kit.  When I began writing Family Rambling in 2005 I just wanted to share what I was learning about traveling with my own child.  It wasn’t until 2008 that I began receiving pitches for travel products, and 2010 when I was invited on my first press trip.  And even a free trip isn’t completely free- you’ll often have some travel costs, food and miscellaneous expenses.

Don’t Just Do It for the “Free Stuff”  You can tell the sites that are only out there for what they can get.  If all your posts are sponsored and your information is recycled press releases your audience will know- and they won’t stick around.

Do Be Prepared to Work  Sure, a dreamy trip to Hawaii sounds great- but what is expected of you?  Some PR companies will have a contract for you to sign, and though many bloggers balk at these, I believe they are the best way to know what is expected of you.  If you are not given a written contract, I find it best to ask what the company is expecting.  I find it best to over-deliver.

Don’t Expect Your Vacations to Ever Be the Same  My family is very used to me taking photos of everything (often many takes), plastering their images all over social media sites, and often focusing on work before we can have fun.  And, while a media trip may be exotic, it’s all about work.  Even if the PR company has an open bar you don’t want to overindulge and make an a$$ of yourself.  Besides, there is probably an early event the next morning you shouldn’t miss.

Do Remember It’s a Job If you’re not sitting in front of your laptop every night of your trip editing photos and outlining stories you’ll be doing double-duty when you return home.  Posts to write for your site and any other outlets you contribute to, photos to edit and share, links and thank you emails.  These things all take time- and quite a bit of it.  Travel blogging is not for the hobby blogger.

Don’t Forget to Pay Your Taxes  Every hotel stay, press trip or comped meal counts as income.  Every one.  Nope, it’s not cash.  And it won’t pay your bills unless you find paying outlets to write for.  But it is “in kind” income and, as such, is taxable.

I often tell people that my husband makes money and I make opportunity.  If it weren’t for the support (and understanding) of my family there is no way I could have built the sites I have.

Do follow your dream.

Don’t forget to be thankful for it.

Happy Travels!