Every once in a while I’ll get someone asking me “Hey Jazz, how’s the website doing?” which I’ll usually reply with “well, it’s not making me any money lol” but it got me thinking. Maybe I should share some stats with my readers so they could not only get an answer to their question but it could serve as a rough benchmark for those thinking starting a travel related website / blog that’s targeting reviews, travel information. Maybe you could learn from my mistakes and build something even better!

What Went Right?

-I’ve received tons of compliments on Tripulus design. So many in fact that I’ve been asked by a few people to help them give feedback on their own travel websites (which I did for free) I personally designed about 95% of it (except the logo and navigation bar) but always wanted to see a very visual, clean, easy to use travel website. I’m shocked by how many new travel websites launch daily that don’t take their UI (user interface) serious.

-Tripulu is rich in original content. From the photos to the personal reviews, many of the restaurants we cover for example in Barbados or Playa Del Carmen don’t even have their own website! I’ve always been a strong believer in quality original content. Some brilliant engineer will always create a better way to search for travel content but at the end of the day someone has to physically go and take photos and see the restaurant to produce the content. That’s where I see the opportunity, in companies that provide this key information.

-It’s simple. The website is simple, the IPhone app is even more simple. It kind of had to be because Tripulu was bootstrapped but it was always part of the plan. If my parents can’t navigate through the website than it’s too complicated.

-Over 100,000 visits on Tripulu.com and over 100,000 visits on the Tripulu YouTube page. It’s not a massive number but I’m satisfied knowing that our reviews, photos and travel show pilot has helped inform and inspire some travelers to see and do new things.

What Went Wrong?

-Money....or lack of it. Like any business, in order for it to sustain itself you need to make cash. I never wanted to charge users for viewing information on the website but would consider charging for a great IPhone app. I think people would be willing to pay one price for a travel guide that covered many destinations. I’d take it one step further and offer a travel guide that gave users exclusive prices / access to businesses featured in the guide. But you need $$$ to develop this!

-Reviews. If you’re ever thinking about building a review website my suggestion would be to not do it. Yes, you read that correctly....don’t do it! Or at least not the way most websites are going about it and that’s relying on UGC (user generated content). People don’t have the time to write reviews but will read them when it’s time to travel, eat out etc.. If you’re website is making money from selling travel related products / services than yes, include reviews but don’t try to build a review website in hopes that you’ll attract enough visitors to make money.....because you won’t. I’d bet against that any day.

The Travel Market

It’s a great industry to be in but very competitive. Building something great and hoping Google will send you traffic can no longer be done. You really have to go after a niche market and go at it hard. It’s easier now more than ever to start a new online travel business with free tools like WordPress, Facebook, LinkedIn, cheap online hosting etc. But because of this it’s become that much harder to make money from publishing, taking photos, and producing video.

One thing will never change though....people want quality and very few Entrepreneurs produce quality. Do this and you’ll do fine, however if you produce average you’ll attract average and no one wants to be average right?