It was only three years later, a few months after the Palawan tragedy where he almost died, quit traveling yet decided to blog about his travel experiences through the first incarnation of this blog: Tutubi Flight Chronicles
About two years later, the present domain was registered, a premium domain still available that's testament to the unpopularity of the Philippines to backpackers: Backpacking Philippines was born
This day marks the day this blog graduates from a baby/toddler to a child as it celebrates the seven years in the blogosphere.
Now, what happened during those seven years?
First, blog traffic increased from zero to a few daily visits to more than 2 million pageviews/year (see 2012 web analytics and media kit
Blog revenue increased from months of zero earnings to several hundred dollars per month, peak time on the days before Holy Week. (Refer to to this Travel Blogging Business to see the income statement)
Facebook page and Twitter accounts started only in September 2011, very late to adopt social media, and had just optimized it, the reason why you only see a still paltry 3,400+ followers on Facebook, 40+ on Google+ and 600+ on Twitter. (Tutubi also do not like to follow another Twitter user just to add to his numbers like that you see on other profiles where the number of followers and following are almost the same). Facebook followers though continue to increase daily but do not contribute much to blog traffic compared to organic search on Google.
One of the best comments received came from from Gael on the blog's 4th anniversary:
i've been an avid reader for God knows when, ur page and ferdz' & lagalog's too has served as my travel guide, but i only started traveling solo 2 yrs ago and started blogging (w/ a lot of backlogs coz i'm too lazy! hehe) back in December.
i'm a freak of ur blog bec of it's helpful posts (directions) and unbiased reviews, true,i've seen some blogs turn into some kind of a money-making site w/ posts slowly deteriorating but you have adhered to your disclosure. your blog helped me a lot in some of my trips. as far as i cn rmmbr though,ive never left a mark on ur site. so when I stumbled on this post, i knw this is the best post & time to leave my mark at and. :)
congrats tutubi on your 4th yr! i knw,i'm a bit late but i jst wanna let u knw ur blog hs been a gr8 inspiration! thnx for sharing ur adventures! keep the posts coming and keep on exploring! :)
ur fan,
Gael
thepinaysolobackpacker"
The worst comments? they're those visitors who asked questions without reading the post, when the information is already posted had they bothered to read.
What's in Tutubi's bucket list?
Visit all 81 provinces of the Philippines: still have about a dozen or more to go
All UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ph: Churches of Miag-ao and Paoay; Tubbataha
All countries of South East Asia: Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, Myanmar, Timor Leste
Set foot on 6 continents: four continents unvisited
When's the deadline? There's no deadline, it happens only when Tutubi's dead :(
Lastly, do you really want to know the secret behind the blog's success? it in this message:
"Try to be the BIG FISH in a small pond and not the small fish in the big, big OCEAN"
If you get the message, get to know your audience, publish informative articles (even with not so good pictures), then use a little SEO.
In time, you'll see visitors to your blog. Be patient though as it won't happen overnight.
Do you know the reason why Filipinos celebrate 7th birthday?
If it's something special, what's your wish for Tutubi? for this blog? for the Philippines?
Don't mention for the whole world, Tutubi knows it's always the beauty-pageant winning wish: World Peace!
Lastly, success in travel blogging is not really defined in terms of pageviews, blog visitors, Facebook page likes, Twitter followers but it's in being able to do what you like to do and share your passion for travel and explorations.
After all, Tutubi's primary purpose for starting this travel blog is to provide updated information and independent reviews for travelers when there were only a few Pinoy travel bloggers around, when the Department of Tourism people were lacking in zeal in promoting Ph and even the DOT website lacking in information.
That goal is being realized now...Kudos too to all Pinoy travel bloggers!
Here's to more travel blogging years!
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