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Interview with Travel Blogger Ankita Sinha

Travel blogger interview series ankita
Ankita Sinha aka anki is an engineer who had worked in the corporate world for about 5 years. In the end of 2011, she decided to quit her job,  started her blog and vlog on travel and adventure called Anki on the Move and decided to venture into tourism and adventure industry in India to cope up with the financial crisis. Ankita started working as a marketing professional for Indus Outback Ventures and Skyriders (Skydiving in India). For her, that was an intense learning curve where she attended travel trade shows and roadshows and came to know in bits and pieces what travel industry was about. Digital Marketing was always a necessity whether it was travel blogging or working for a travel firm as a marketing professional. With the boom in the digital world to promote content through social media or blog, it came up as an important tool to let people know about this travel blogger’s work.
How did you decide to become a travel blogger? Was it a thoughtful choice?
Ankita: Becoming a travel blogger came as a thought post All India Road Trip. Since I was traveling, I thought why not pen it down, and not just pen it down but create these remarkable first person travel videos wherein people get to see what I am witnessing live. I also wanted to know what goes behind the scene of adventure industry and so I covered a lot of adventure sports in my blog. Slowly and slowly the focus moved from domestic to international and my hunger to explore more was exponential.
What are the categories one can blog about as a travel blogger? What areas do you focus on?
Ankita: As a travel blogger, one has a lot of avenues to venture on some of which I have already implemented on my blog i.e Places, Food, People, Equipments when traveling, Fashion when traveling, Fitness when traveling, Traveling videos, Travel Tips, Adventure Sports and etc.
Photographs impact travel blogs to a great extent. In your opinion, what are the elements that go into presenting a photograph?
Ankita: 
Content is the major player in impacting travel blogs followed by photography. Photography plays an important role in inspiring people to visit a place and see it through the lenses that you have presented.
In my opinion, a culture of a place speakes volumes when presented beautifully in the form of a photograph in a travel blog. Whereas I do believe in little editing of a picture to highlight the photography, I am against distortion of any kind that presents different picture altogether. For example, a tiny waterfall can be made into a cascade like effect with smoothing the picture but that does not represent the place which in turn fools the traveler. So my idea of a photography is to be true to the place as well as highlight the ones that inspires the traveler. In a blogpost for example, its great to have landscape photography sans you, but also great to have one or two pictures that tells the reader that you have been there for real.
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How do you keep yourself updated on the latest trends about travel blogging? Which are the top sites and travel blogs you visit every day?
Ankita: Travel Blogging is an emerging field wherein everyday we learn something. I keep myself updated on the latest trends by following travel bloggers such as Photokatha, Sidthewanderer, Nomadic Matt to name a few.Ankita-sinha_travel-blogger
Please share the list of your favorite blogging tools along with their purpose, which you use regularly.
Ankita: My blog is based out of blogger, so generally I would check Blogger / Google Analytics for viewers and visitors on my blog. Apart from that I use iMovie for editing videos.
Which influencers and thought leaders you look up to when it comes to travel blogging?
Ankita: When it comes to travel blogging, I have been a huge fan of Nomadic Matt. In fact, when I had started, he was the only one I would look forward to. Eventually over the journey of 4 years, I have met people on road who are great influences as well as thought leaders one of which would be Lakshmi Sharath. She’s been around the travel blogging sphere for quite a while now, and she is a great influencer too.
If you were to list top 5 reasons for your success as a blogger, what would those be?
Ankita: The Top 5 reasons for my success as a travel blogger would be:
  • Providing genuine video content:

If you look at my videos, I believe in being at that place, and telling people that hey this is what the place looks like and this is what the people are. My travel videos are first hand shot and gives a detailed idea about a place taking off the pain for those who do not wish to read my blog.
  • My content is unbiased:

When you look at my blog, my blog strives on conversational writeup because I not only want to present to the world the good sides, but also the bad experiences on my blog. Hence I focus very much on small little details that impacts travel.
  • Fashion when Travel:

A subset of my travel blog is Styleonthemove which talks about being Fashionable when traveling and it lists all the favorite brands that I use, the ones that are comfortable and the ones that make one stand out.
  • Adventure Sports:

Working in an adventure industry made me aware of what goes inside the sports and so my adventure sports section provides not only the list of places to do such sports but also interviews of the people behind those sports.
  • Recognition:

The best way to know if I am a successful travel blogger or not, is by the measure of recognition the world gives you. I have won 3 travel awards in last 4 years and have been featured in many publications.
Please share top mistakes you’ve learnt from your journey as a travel blogger.
Ankita: Mistakes always makes one a better blogger. For me my mistakes were my stepping stones to learn and even till today I am still learning.
The top mistakes that I made in my journey are:
  • Not writing under suitable title:

When I had started, I had no idea on what SEO was so most of my title were very naive representing the article but not getting anywhere on the google search.Slowly I learnt that I need to atleast add a relevant title for not only people to search for it but also for my blog to look more organized.
  • An unkempt template

My first blogger template was as every amateur blogger template very cluttered. My idea was that I am here to write then why do I need to put in the effort to make it presentable. People who read,would read. But lately I have realized that I myself do not like the old presentation and wanted the world to feel better on my blog.
  • Not being active on social media:

Social media and blogging these days goes hand in hand and even though I was reluctant initially to engage so much on social media, I think its a very important factor that decides your blogging success because everyone today is on social media and engaging on a regular basis.
These are the few mistakes. I have although learnt a lot more than these.
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Is it possible to make a career in travel blogging? Please share 3-5 tips about travel blogging for aspiring travel bloggers.
Ankita: Yes, it is possible to make a career in travel blogging. A lot of people in the travel blogging sphere are earning through blogging and these are the 3 tips on how can you:
  • Freelance Writing:

The most popular way to earn through travel blogging is by freelance writing for publications. That gives one freedom to move as well as write as location independent.
  • Brand Collaborations

The world is hungry for ideas and if your blog is popular, brands pour in with their ideas. Brand collaborations whether in terms of blogging / vlogging can make you earn.
  • Inviting Sponsored Guest Posts and Ads

A lot of people /brands would be willing to write guest posts on your blog and thats how you can earn.
  • Travel Blogger Meetups

Organizing travel blogger meetups for a fraction of a cost and inspiring people to travel through your talk could be one of the ways one can earn.
  • Social Media Influencer

If you have a great social media following, you can act as an influencer for a campaign and charge for the same.
In your view, which are the most important skills one should have or acquire for success in travel blogging?
Ankita: Travel Blogging is an outlet of your travel experience so although it doesn’t require any major skills to make it success, I would recommend it to keep it simple and uncluttered. View your blog as your blog but also as something that readers would find interesting and then pour in.
What are your future plans? How do you plan to leverage your existing success as a Travel Blogger?
Ankita: My future plans is to work together on different sectors of travel blogging simultaneously (i.e travel videos / travel / adventure / fashion when travel / travel gadgets) and merge it to make it grow as a substantial information outlet that not only focuses on particulars of travel but also speaks volumes about little things that impacts travel. I also wish to leverage social media more to generate more awareness of this idea that I want to take forward.
What do you think travel blogging will look like in 5 years? Will it still be around?
Ankita: In the timespan of 5 years, travel blogging scene in India would be stagnant. Right now, its a growing industry where opportunities are plenty. These opportunities would still rise and so would the exceptionally talented creators creating competition in the field of travel blogging. The kind of which is currently happening in the developed world where travel blogging boom has been here for ages.
It will still be around, however I feel that social media (Instagram, Snapchat, etc) would top the game because people these days have less patience to read a blog that how it used to be. Everyone wants quick information and hence vlogging might sky rocket and also would social media than blogging.
Would you like to share a few words about the work we are doing at Digital Vidya in educating students, professionals and entrepreneurs about Digital Marketing?

Ankita:

I believe Digital Vidya is doing a great work by educating people on Digital Marketing because its very important to not only create content but know how to utilize the skills to make it work going forward because as I said above, this field of travel blogging is going the be competitive in the coming years and the awareness needs to reach masses, and the best tool to have success would be to get the knowledge on digital marketing whether to use it to enhance social media reach or to enhance blogging.

Wish to know how digital marketing is impacting travel industry? Explore the opportunities via the ultimate guide to digital marketing for travel industry.

Avatar of jasleen kaur
Jasleen Kaur
[Sr. Associate - Content Marketing] A content passionate, Jasleen handles content writing & marketing activities. Also, she leads Digital Marketing Internship Program. She is in the content writing and marketing fraternity for 10+ years now & is proficient in writing content for blogs, articles, books, brochures and social media. She embraces practical knowledge of WordPress CMS.

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