Article: My Advice for Aspiring Travel Writers

[AFF Editor]

Canonical URL

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/travel-writing-tips/

My Advice for Aspiring Travel Writers is an article written by Matt from the AFF editorial team:

My Advice for Aspiring Travel Writers

In his final column as Australian Frequent Flyer's editor, Matt Graham shares the advice and travel writing tips he would give to an aspiring writer or content creator.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[DejaBrew]

Great article @Mattg and some excellent advice that extends well beyond the realms of travel writing and content creation. I've come across plenty of people in my professional career who could do well to take some of this advice on board

 

[aspro2]

Nicely written! Good luck with everything.

And something you probably couldn't write because of the community of writers you know, but I'll happily add from the outside:

If someone's writing is little better than strings of clichés about "cheeky little reds", "perusing the menu/catalogue/whatever" and so on, then the writer has forgotten how to communicate. There's a lot of travel dross out there, and I hope whoever fills your shoes at AFF can maintain the clarity of writing that you have.

 

[Balorfi]

Loved your article and I wish you all the best in your new endeavour. It was through a recommendation from a friend and through email advice from you that I am on this chat site in the first place. So thank you for that.
Just one question. What are SEO and GEO?

 

[DejaBrew]

What are SEO and GEO?

In basic terms, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is about helping your website show up when people search on Google (or Bing etc). GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) is about helping AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT) find, understand, and recommend your content.

So SEO helps people find your website, whilst GEO helps AI use your content to answer questions, and to Matt's point, modern content creators need to consider both, with GEO becoming increasingly important.

 

[Melburnian1]

. GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) is about helping AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT) find, understand, and recommend your content.

I have read that due to AI automatically appearing at the top of searches (at least on a PC), the number of subsequent Google searches has declined quite a bit. Your and Matt's point is well made.

 

[eastwest101]

Just as a note of thanks Matt - I have always found your in-flight reviews of airline products well written, factual and balanced, and very much better written than the mainstream Australian press travel writers, which are often frivolous, pandering and lacking in any details.

That review of the downgraded A380 to A330 SYD to SIN Qantas flight in 2023 pretty much said everything about Qantas that needed to be said, and was extremely representative of the state of Qantas in that moment in time, and was written in a professional, clear and factual tone.

Best of luck in your future writings and travel!

 

[mandolino]

Matt, it's great to see you managed to make a living by producing quality content in a very over-supplied market. Your efforts are much appreciated.

I started travelling internationally in 1978, (from Australia to USA then UK, Europe, SE Asia) when there were very few resources for the independent young budget traveller but Lonely Planet was just getting off the ground.

I watched it grow, then competitors emerge. In those early days I met a lot of aspiring "travel writers" whose main ambition , with a few exceptions, seemed just to live a fun, nomadic life without working too hard.
Then the internet came and ate everybody's lunch.

And then came the rise of the content creators, but a much more challenging and crowded market than the early days of LP etc.

AI notwithstanding, we'll always want to hear from people who have not only "been there, done that" but are still out there doing it and understand the kind of info that is actually useful in this age of TMI.

Once again, well done, best of luck for the future and may the road rise to meet you.