Backpacker-Adventure website

[derekosullivan]

Hi Folks,

Ok, situation is:
1. Probably going to be made redundant by end of year.
2. Want to build website aimed at backpackers-adventurers, organising visas, work visas insurance, trips, SIM cards abroad, hostels etc.
3. As this is a money conscious lot, commissions are tight.

So how can I make money from this? I'm passionate about this topic and I have a lot of knowledge/experience in the area and a company that will create a top class website. I'm just afraid it won't make money.

Your advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,
Derek.

[Kay]

Hi derek, welcome to Business Advice Forum and thanks for posting your question. I think it's great that you're planning now for possible redundancy. Coupled with the fact that you know a lot about the subject and particularly because you have a passion for it, I'd say you have a good shot at it.

Are you sure you want to go with a company that will create a top class website right out the starting blocks? Because when I hear you say that, I'm thinking expensive. Your website is not going to make money overnight. It takes time to build traffic and a following. If you're thinking you'll build it and the money will start rolling in right away, I'm afraid you need to burst that bubble now.

Why not begin smaller since you don't know how long that redundancy money would need to last? It's not expensive to buy a domain name, get hosting and build a site if you start out with a blog framework like Wordpress on it. The platform costs you nothing and there are thousands of free and inexpensive templates you can choose from. Wordpress is way more sophisticated today than it was even just a couple of years ago and you can't beat it for ease of use. I can help you find templates if you want if you decide to go that route as I have loads of theme sites bookmarked.

Do you have any experience in building websites or blogs of your own? We'll help you best we can and if you can tell us where you're starting from experience wise, we'll all be able to keep pace. You might find that you could do it yourself with a little help from us and don't need that company after all.

(Of course, if you're not concerned about the costs involved, go right ahead and build it with them. I just felt I had to say that having been through redundancy myself. I wouldn't want to see you throwing a big chunk of change at it and expecting very fast returns.)

Once you have some great content, and that's largely the time consuming part plus promoting/marketing it, you can add affiliate links and ads and/or use private advertisers to help make you that money. You could also add an e-commerce section and set up an affiliate store selling tents, rucsacs, outdoor clothing, hiking boots etc.

Is there any backpacking site that you like yourself? That could give you some inspiration/ideas about what you'd like to do with your own. Can you see anything it lacks that you could add to your own?

You need to think about how you could differentiate yourself. Do you want to cover for example European travel and travelers or US or worldwide adventurers? How about the kind of trips: would you want to focus on one kind eg mountaineering, jungle treks, etc?

Having a passion is a gigantic plus, Derek, it really is. That will shine through in your website. Tell us some more about where, what and the target audience you want to focus on and we'll do our best to help you get there.

[Fergal]

Welcome to our business forum Derek and sorry to hear that you are facing redundancy, I know what that's like from personal experience.

If you are looking for ideas on how to make money from processing work visas etc, you could do worse than to have a look at TaxBack. They are a hugely successful business who process tax claims and tax returns for their clients.

Another site definitely worth a look is http://www.hostels.com/ - I love their business model. Visitors to the Hostels.com can book a hostel almost anywhere in the world. They pay a deposit when the make the booking and that deposit goes directly to the company that owns the website, it is their commission for making the sale. The fact that the visitor has paid a deposit greatly increases the chances that they will turn up at the hostel and pay for their stay. The way that the commission goes directly to the website, means that that they are guaranteed their share of the revenue and they don't have to worry about receiving cash from the hostel owners.

If an approach like one of the above is not what you are looking for you could consider providing an information and community based website and generate revenue from advertising sales and from affiliate programmes.

Starting to write a business plan could be very helpful to you, for clarifying your ideas. You can view some great templates in the Business Plan Templates section of our Useful Business Resources / Links thread. Try not to be daunted by the prospect of writing a business plan. Just get started and write the plan for your own eyes only - don't worry about how it would look to anyone else, until you have at least written a couple of drafts.

What country are you based in?

Good luck with it and please do post back with your thoughts!