Blogger Interview # 35:Red Nomad OZ

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself and your blog?


My blog, 'Adventures in Australia –Red Nomad OZ' grew from my passion for discovering Australia and sharing off-beat, quirky, interesting and bizarre places and experiences that make my OZ holidays so much fun! When I'm not travelling, I live on a small farm and visit the beach often. I love to inspire readers to look outside the square when they're travelling in Australia – it's so rewarding, and their travels will be so much more memorable!


2. Are you a full time blogger? How did you get into blogging and why?


Well, it's not my full time job, if that's what you mean! But in a way, I've been preparing to be a blogger all my life. Whenever I took holidays, I'd send postcards and emails about my travels and adventures to friends and relatives, who told me how much they enjoyed my stories! 'Write a book', they'd say!! After a series of personal setbacks, I started my blog intending just to keep my friends up to date with my news. Once I started writing though, it it evolved into what it is now - a blog about what I've discovered through my past and present travels in Australia!


3. If someone was interested in blogging, what would be a few things you would 
suggest?

On my first blogoversary, I summarised 10 things I'd learned from my first year of blogging – click HERE for that free advice!!

In addition, actively contribute to on-line blogging communities. If the first and only thing you do when you join is to ask other bloggers to promote your blog, you probably won't get many takers.

4. How do you build a community around a blog and social media?

I want readers – not just followers! There's a lot of follow-swapping out in blogland – but what's the point in having lots of followers if they don't actually read your blog? My blog appeals to people looking for entertainment, experiences, exploration, education and escapism – so I try to incorporate all these elements into each post. The fact it's about OZ travel is only part of the attraction!! 

When I first started blogging, I thought my audience would be mainly be readers who wanted to travel in Australia, and other travel bloggers. In reality, my audience is much broader than that - some of my readers will never come to OZ, but they read my blog for other reasons like entertainment or escapism – especially if they have a long, cold winter! Or maybe they just like the way I write ...

5.

What are your three favorite blogs to read? What makes those blogs special?

I read a lot of blogs – so narrowing my favourites down to three is impossible. The blogs I read are in three broad categories though, so I'll give you a sample from each of these:

1 Travel Blogs:
For world travel, Annabel Candy's fabulous adventures are now available on her 'In the Hot Spot' blog. Annabel has lived and worked in several countries – and travelled to many others so her adventures are many and varied.

For Aussie travel (apart from my blog, of course!), follow the adventures of Tom and Amy as they travel round Australia on their 'Oz360' blog. Amy's writing and Tom's photos are entertaining and informative – you don't need to be planning a trip around Australia to enjoy this!

2 Personal/Lifestyle Blogs:

From the moment I first read Manzanita's quirky blog – Wanna buy a duck? - about her varied and fun-filled life, I was hooked! It's hard to believe she's over 80 years old – but her wild adventures, and the lessons she's learned from them are priceless.

Another more recent find – Aussie expatriate Marie's blog 'How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love Herring', her stories about moving to and living in Sweden – is compelling reading! Her eye for detail, great photos and entertaining posts are top notch and a must-read for me!

3 Cooking Blogs:

My secret indulgence!! My first international follower, Mary's blog 'One Perfect Bite' is worth reading just to drool over the wonderful recipes and photos. Of course, you can actually make them too …

And Alessandra's blog 'AlessandraZecchini', has wonderful vegetarian recipes and photos as well as stories about her life in her adopted New Zealand.

There! That's six - I cheated!! But I'm sure you'll thank me for it later ...

6. 

Which one plugin would you suggest all bloggers to have? 

HHHMMMmmm... I'm a bit of a technophobe, so I find blogs with a lot of gadgets, links, ads and clutter a little bit off-putting - especially when these make the content difficult to find, or the blog takes a long time to load. Have them if you must, but ONLY when your content is already interesting, clear and compelling – a lot of add ons won't hide poorly written posts and unfortunate blog design …

And if that makes me old-fashioned, so be it!!