2009 is almost over, with only a few days left before we welcome 2010, which happens to be the second most talked about year in the history of South Africa after the first democratic elections in 1994.
ADVERTISERS VS. OWN SERVICES/PRODUCTS
With the New Year come changes on Travelwires.com, designed to improve the blog and hopefully also better revenue. From my experience, for the blog to exclusively depend on advertisers as a revenue stream is not sustainable. From next year the focus will be on introducing own services and products at a fee. I’ve already started with a Jobs Board, where you can advertise vacant positions at a nominal monthly fee. Should you have a partnership proposal, please send me an email with further details on muzi [at] travelwires [dot] com.
NEW LAYOUT
The current WordPress theme is cluttered which makes it look more like a mainstream news website than a blog. I’ve fallen in love with a new Bueno theme on WooThemes.com, which is clean and simple (not to mention the fonts, they’re also my draw-card). The normal bling found in most premium themes has been omitted which appeals a great deal to me. The new look will ensure that blog posts standout and gain more impressions than before.
AFRICAN FOCUS & NEW LOGO
Another major change will be the focus on tourism within the African continent. Unfortunately current logo has not been spared (pity it has to go, with less than a year in circulation), since it’s now going to be replaced with a completely new design. The new logo will spot a new tagline ‘Tourism Blog on Africa’ which clearly emphasize the fact that Travelwires.com will now not only be a South African tourism blog, but continent will get more coverage than before. It also spots an African map, with a selection of game in the background which represents tourism in the continent.
Tourism is a partnership based industry, with various sectors complimenting each other to complete a full tourism package. Each African country has unique tourism products and for Travelwires.com to grow, it is important that the spotlight should not only be on South Africa. I hardly hear anything tourism related about Swaziland, Lesotho, Namibia etc though all these countries have a thriving tourism industry.
Travewires.com targets tourism entrepreneurs, with the new focus I hope to generate more industry news from the continent so you get to know what makes tour operators in Kenya unique (just love the current MagicalKenya campaign on CNN), how tourism is impacting on peoples’ lives in Rwanda, after all the genocide. Uganda is home to a large community of gorillas which are a major tourist attraction to that country, we need to know how local tourism entrepreneurs have positioned themselves to benefit from tourism.
Such a focus can never be achieved without the help of tourism PR firms, tourism bodies in the respective African countries and other role players. I therefore wish to appeal to industry PR firms to pass me media releases from the rest of the continent. Send news worthy press releases to muzi [at] travelwires [dot] com.
Below is the design process from original mock-ups until the final design selection:
First revision:
Second revision:
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