Promoting a travel destination through a blog

 

(cc) Marco Belucci on Flickr.com

Be warned, this post is not about Madagascar, it’s a self-inspection of madafan…
As this new year has started (well, we’re already on february), I just took some time to look back at what I want  Madafan to become and where does it stand now.
The goal is clear: I want madafan to become the reference for all travellers when they plan to come to Madagascar, or when they want to share their experience about their trip to Madagascar.
Easier said than done, I’m not even talking about the fact that I’m trying to promote a country that still undergoes a  political turmoil
Back to the title of this post: when I read back the articles posted  on Madafan so far, I just realized that I’m writing like  a marketer,  not like a blogger, you know the kind of “look, have you seen this awesome place”… a “brochure-like” kind of writing that tourism board are doing. Let’s make it clear:Madafan is not a tourism board agency… Showing the cool places from the “bright-side” perspective is a tourism board job – not madafan’s job (although Madafan can also do it) – BTW, thanks Sara LeHouillier for reminding me that I always look at the bright side – it’s a good thing, but not always helping  when you’re a travel-blogger, and you try to earn travellers’ trust, that you’re not trying to polish things before showing them off to tourists.
So what’s all this rant all about?
First, while continuing to showcase must-see places, Madafan will try to focus more on the “things tourists do not expect to experience”  while coming to Madagascar- actual facts, must-foresee things…you know, the kind of things not always written in guide-books that will  prevent tourists from saying “I should have known”  Second: while on the guide book topic, this year, Madafan will explore  some “call to action” from its readers… It won’t always be  “subscribe to my RSS feed” or “become a fan”… The fact is, Madafan has always avoided providing the usual facts about Madagascar you find in guidebooks- the main reason is simple: you can find it anywhere on  the internet and we don’t want to be a “me-too” …however, we will begin diatributing/selling madagascar or madafan-related materials soon…There probably won’t be lot of customers but there’s a beginning for everything… BTW, if you’re good at designing  madagascar-related artworks, we’ve gotta chat
That’s all for this 7AM rant, now let’s go back to implementing all of this