[Disclaimer: this is yet another blog post laced with blatant contradictions and hypocrisy!]
These days [writes old-man-Al] most people planning an adventure or expedition will be eager to set up a great-looking website. There are obvious reasons for doing so and many people do an excellent job of it (see here, for example! Or here and here.)
On the flip side I have also written about why nobody should blog on their first expedition and why it’s better to just go do stuff and worry about the telling of it later.
So today here is a compromise. A perfectly adequate website you can set up, in minutes, that’s fast, sleek, efficient and totally free. It will satisfy your inner narcissist without taking up valuable time and money that should be spent on your trip, not the trimmings.
Sure, it might not look as corporately glossy as beargrylls.com’s iPhone app. It might spread your “brand message” a little thin. But rest assured, if you cycle to K2, climb it in January, then return home via a row to the [real] North Pole then nobody will give two hoots that your brand message is a little thin.
Do something amazing. Focus on your trip. Do it well. That is what counts.
Then concentrate on writing like Hemingway, taking photos like Cartier-Bresson and speaking like Obama. Do that rather than throwing money at some web designer geek far cleverer than you. That can come later.
Follow these steps and you’ll have your expedition website up and running before lunchtime:
- Set up a home page at www.about.me
- Set up a blog at www.tumblr.com
- Put some pics on Flickr
- Put your pretty videos on Vimeo and those you care about for SEO on YouTube
- Get Tweeting (or don’t), Facebooking and whatever else you fancy frittering time on
- Make a cup of tea
- Go climb K2 in winter
I’m not sure what the current status is with epictracker.com, but it looks like they’re building a system specifically for this purpose.
Great post.
Just a few thoughts if you don’t like tumblr you could use posterous and it has group functions already set up and you can link it to your facebook, twitter and flickr accounts. You can post via email once set up. Personal preference I suppose.
Also share your adventure shows where you are in really time but sending a buddy beacon from viewranger or a gps fix from a spot messenger system plus other systems an places them on a map.
Very good. I would add that if you’re really making a big thing of writing, skip Tumblr and head for WordPress.
“Writing like Hemingway, taking photos like Cartier-Bresson and speaking like Obama”
These are a bit grandiose for my liking…
I’d be happy to give a slide show talk as funny as Dave Gorman and write as entertainingly as Jerome K Jerome. I’m not much of a photographer, but if I could take a snap like Colin Prior one day I’d be chuffed as a maggot.
Fair enough. I too would love to do a talk and book like those two!
For cycle tourers, a great site for your journal is crazyguyonabike.com
Its low tech, loads up fast, works great on slow connections and your photos and writing are displayed without distractions.
It’s also a vast archive that helps people planning their own rides.
Wrote this some time ago and links also to the Lomography motto – live offline, share online:
“With all of the technology involved, it’s easy to forget that you’re telling a story. No amount of internet wizardry will make up for the online equivalent of a boring slideshow. Expeditions are filled with adversity and triumph, joy and despair, as well as discovery. If you can fill your reports with emotion, wit, humility and insight, your online audience will follow.”
ps I quite like making flashy websites!
That’s a great summary, Jamie.
http://digitalexplorer.com/ is a really good example of a great website too.
Another really interesting post Al and I agree with you… in part.
If you are taking off on an adventure, expedition or holiday and want to share that with the world then there are a fantastic number of free options out there that enable you to get your story and photos online quickly and easily. I’d back Toms recommendation to use WordPress mainly due to it’s flexibility, simple content management system and the ability to throw in all sorts of clever widgets for videos, twitter, contact forms etc.
But (and you knew there’d be a but) if you are looking for something more than that, maybe dealing with potential sponsors, or want to be taken more seriously, then perhaps it’s worth considering a more professional approach.
Firstly, web users make their minds up about websites in around 1 second. So the first problem is that you only have a very short time to grab their attention. Secondly, once they’ve decided to stay, your audience has very little tolerance in trying to get around a site before giving up. Links to external sites like Flickr for the photos, for example, rather than integrated content only make that problem worse.
A good web designer will understand bounce rates and how to reduce them. They can create a strong visual hierarchy, usable site architecture and a clear, focused navigation system (along with the usual social media integration and tracking etc) that will result in more people finding your site and staying on it. And there are lots of very good designers out there that don’t cost the earth. Just choose wisely (ahem).
So, I completely agree with you – go out and have the adventure first and if you’ve got a great story to tell and really want to get it out there then perhaps consider at least speaking to a designer rather than packaging it up in and jumble of pre made sites all over the web.
Thanks John. I agree with all this.
Anyone looking for a stylish site should check out Sidetracked: http://www.sidetracked.co.uk/edition-02/
“…speaking to a designer rather than packaging it up in and jumble of pre made sites all over the web.”
Great if you can have the content ready in these places first, sometimes it is easier for the designer to work when all the material is edited and ready….
But I agree, if you can afford a designer to fit your site’s look/feel to the expedition, you’ll reap the rewards many times over.
Not an expedition, but I set this up on WordPress with the default 2010 theme in 2 (long) days. http://manaslucircuittrek.com/
But I agree with the author, focus first on the doing, website later. It also amazing the amount of people setting up a business believe that nothing can happen until their website is there. Not only that, but people don’t realise that website is about presenting content. Content is much easier to come by when you’ve actually done something – and the website often delays you doing anything at all.