5 Lessons Learned About Blogging After Biking From Canada to Mexico

As a writer for HubSpot, the astir I thought I would usage our merchandise was creating selling blog posts and measuring their show implicit time. I ne'er envisioned myself really utilizing a CMS to, well, you know, physique a website.

But, that rapidly changed successful the Fall of 2022 erstwhile I created a blog that cataloged my travel down the Great Divide, a upland motorcycle way that stretches from Canada to Mexico.

Before I knew it, I was managing Pedaling4Pups.com and producing a fistful of blog posts each week each portion biking the 2700-mile trail. Even arsenic a seasoned blogger, I was amazed astatine however overmuch I learned astir creating contented — mostly erstwhile doing it connected the go.

Here's what publishing a blog station looks similar erstwhile you're 12K feet supra oversea level:

In this post, I wanted to stock the lessons that I learned astir contented instauration from my trip. Below are 5 tips you tin usage to make awesome contented from the apical of a mountain, connected a sandy beach, oregon wherever inspiration hits you.

How to Start Creating Content On the Go

If you’re conscionable present for the tips, scroll connected down to the adjacent conception for the bully worldly — I committedness I won’t clasp it against you.

If you’re funny astir the blog that I created and are wondering however I managed to people 2 posts per week each portion biking done thousands of miles of distant wilderness, you’re successful the close place.

I had 2 goals erstwhile creating my blog. First, I wanted a mode to easy stock updates with friends and family. What amended mode to bash that than with play blog posts accompanied by a recurring newsletter that readers could motion up for?

The different extremity was much personal. I wanted to usage my level to make donations for a charity. Readers could travel my travel portion simultaneously having the accidental to donate to a origin that I was passionate about.

This led to maine to make Pedaling4Pups.com, a dog-centric blog that would not lone travel my travel connected the Great Divide but would besides enactment an carnal structure successful Ukraine. While connected the trail, I wrote 2 posts per week each by penning and uploading contented via my smartphone.

When I was astatine my campsite, I would benignant up contented successful my Notes app, past upload it to the blog whenever I had the luxury of compartment service.

It was an awesome mode to walk the clip and I was shocked astatine however casual it was to propulsion off. With pre-made templates and themes, creating a website took nary clip astatine all, and penning and uploading posts connected a telephone is much businesslike than you whitethorn think.

Skeptical? I would be, too. It wasn’t ever a downhill thrust (bike pun intended) and I had to accommodate my contented instauration skills to acceptable each concern I recovered myself in. Read connected to larn astir however I did it and what you tin bash for your website if you ever find yourself successful a akin situation.

5 Tips for Producing Content On the Go

1. You tin nutrient contented virtually anywhere.

Creating contented connected the spell is easier than you think. If you person a smartphone oregon a tablet, you’re already halfway there. I utilized HubSpot connected my phone, but you tin usage immoderate blogging instrumentality that offers a mobile CMS.

Even if you conscionable person a pen and paper, sitting successful a structure successful the mediate of the woods, you tin inactive travel up with stories, lessons, oregon different pieces of absorbing contented that your assemblage volition privation to read. Just jot it down portion it’s caller successful your caput past transportation it to your telephone oregon laptop arsenic soon arsenic you get the chance.

As for the existent instauration part, you volition inactive request a level to station your contented connected arsenic good arsenic net entree truthful you tin stock it with the world. Some platforms to see utilizing portion connected the go:

• Your Website: Don’t person one? If I tin make one, past I’d reason astir onshore mammals can, excessively (sorry whales). Just drawback immoderate free website builder and you’re disconnected to the races.
• Social Media: Tik Tok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Club Penguin — take your pick. There are plentifulness of societal media sites to take from and they each person their ain features that marque them unique.
• Community Forums: These days, it’s pugnacious to beryllium archetypal connected the Internet. But, that’s okay. There’s spot successful numbers which means there’s apt a assemblage forum oregon chatroom that would beryllium funny successful your content.
• News/Media Outlets: While I didn’t bash this personally, I bash cognize 2 contented creators who did get immoderate media attraction for their perilous canoe travel down the Mississippi River.

When it comes to uploading content, you mightiness person to get a small originative arsenic to erstwhile and wherever you’ll person net access. Here are a fewer places to support an oculus retired for if you’re successful request of net oregon compartment telephone charging portion connected the go:

• Libraries: Libraries ever person escaped wifi and usually don’t attraction if you bent retired for a while. They whitethorn adjacent person computers you tin usage if you’re bushed of uploading contented via compartment phone.
• Gas Stations: Gas stations are large places to upload content. Many connection escaped wifi and determination are often charging ports scattered astir the building.
• Rest Areas: Rest areas are a no-brainer if you’re traveling via a engaged road. Along with bathrooms and snacks, these places are beauteous reliable for escaped wifi and charging stations.
• Public Parks: While wifi whitethorn alteration from parkland to park, support an oculus retired for charging ports arsenic well. I recovered parks were 1 of my favourite places to halt and bargain a complaint for a while.
• Restaurants + Coffee Shops: So agelong arsenic you’re a paying customer, astir businesses won’t caput you plugging your telephone into their partition outlets. Some volition adjacent person escaped wifi you tin usage to upload your content.

So, determination you go. If I tin find a mode to upload a blog station here:

Then I person the utmost assurance that you tin upload your contented anywhere, too.

2. People inactive work idiosyncratic blogs.

That’s right. Social media hasn’t stolen each of blogging’s thunder. Sure, you tin station like-grabbing pics connected Instagram, oregon sprout viral videos connected Tik Tok, but you can’t regenerate the storytelling quality that a blog level offers.

Blogs are fantabulous spaces to stock idiosyncratic experiences, and you don’t person to beryllium sponsored by a concern to beryllium a fashionable blogger, either.

In fact, our probe shows that astir a 4th of each creator businesses bash not yet make income (mine for definite didn’t). That means you don’t request to beryllium a concern to drum up an assemblage for your website, you conscionable request to make compelling content.

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Here are immoderate tips for creating awesome contented connected the go:

1. Be transparent: If you’re posting astir idiosyncratic experiences, marque them real. People privation genuine contented and astir are bully astatine sniffing retired erstwhile thing is fake. And, arsenic soon arsenic they deliberation you’re ingenuine, it’ll beryllium hard to triumph them back.
2. Be optimistic: Don’t drown successful your sorrows oregon question empathy excessively often from your readers. While this whitethorn summation you immoderate attraction successful the abbreviated term, radical volition turn bushed of proceeding astir the negatives if they aren’t ever followed by a fewer positives.
3. Don’t shy distant from conflict: Now don’t get maine wrong. This is not maine saying spell retired and disturbance up trouble. This is maine saying that my 2 top-performing posts were the ones wherever I faced the biggest challenges connected my journey. People privation to perceive astir your struggles and however you flooded them truthful don’t beryllium acrophobic to play up the dramatics erstwhile it calls for it.
4. Break the 4th wall: Don’t beryllium acrophobic to speech straight to your reader. This makes the acquisition consciousness much idiosyncratic similar they’re connected the travel with you.

3. Anyone tin beryllium a contented creator.

Before this trip, the astir website-building acquisition I had was creating my bio connected AOL Instant Messenger. I bash cognize immoderate coding, capable to cognize I cognize thing astir coding — surely not capable to physique a full-scale website.

Fortunately, I had 1 happening going for me. I worked for a institution that sells this website-building instrumentality you mightiness beryllium acquainted with. It’s called HubSpot, and similar Squarespace oregon WordPress, 1 of its tools is simply a drag-and-drop website builder that makes blogging elemental for non-technical radical similar me.

Is this a plug for HubSpot? Yes, but that’s not my point. My constituent is, anyone tin physique a website if they person entree to a drag-and-drop leafage builder.

Mine took maine astir a week oregon truthful to design, and from determination I was posting contented successful nary time. I utilized a pre-built template for my web pages truthful nary of my plan progressive hard coding and I was thrilled with however overmuch customization I had entree to with each of the modules that were already included connected the page.

The hard portion was getting into the mindset of a contented creator. You person to beryllium a small susceptible and consenting to judge that immoderate contented won’t execute arsenic good arsenic others. In time, you’ll get the bent of it, but learning what works and what doesn’t tin surely airs an intimidating situation for caller contented creators.

4.  Content creators are everywhere.

One of the coolest things astir my travel was however galore different contented creators I ran into. My hands-down favorites were Jesse and Fien who negociate the website “Two Tired Belgians.” These 2 adventurers are biking from Alaska to Argentina each successful one, two-year travel — putting my measly small thrust done the Rockies to shame.

The bully quality is that you don’t person to question 20K miles by motorcycle to go a contented creator. There are plentifulness of reasons to get into contented instauration and bikepacking is lone 1 of many.

Below, are a fewer different reasons wherefore contented creators bash what they do.

5. Remember, it’s conscionable a blog.

At the extremity of the day, it’s important to retrieve that your blog is conscionable a blog. Don’t overthink it, conscionable bask it arsenic an outlet to stock your experiences with others.

After all, if you’re not making wealth from it, you should beryllium having amusive with it and investigating what works with your assemblage and what doesn’t. If you aren’t having amusive creating your content, your assemblage is not going to person amusive interacting with it.

I learned this acquisition erstwhile I wrote astir my structure getting sprayed by a sprinkler system successful the mediate of a frigid night. Trying to find immoderate wit successful the situation, I wrote astir the acquisition arsenic if I were astatine warfare with the sprinkler strategy and utilized subject presumption to picture however I moved my structure to information oregon “engaged successful antiaircraft maneuvers.”

I was soaking wet, cold, and sitting successful the acheronian waiting for a sprinkler to halt spraying my tent. The past happening I wanted to bash was constitute astir it. So, I had immoderate amusive with it.

I poked amusive astatine myself for pitching my structure successful specified a ridiculous spot and sarcastically applauded my efforts to salvage the nighttime of sleep. It was quirky and astir apt not each that funny, but it was what I needed to bash to get a station retired that day.

To my surprise, this was 1 of my best-performing blog posts. Friends and household reached retired to archer maine however overmuch they enjoyed the lighthearted storytelling and however they thought the full concern was hilarious and was gladsome I shared it.

While it wasn’t my shining infinitesimal arsenic a bikepacker, it was memorable and by putting my ain humorous rotation connected the situation, I shared a genuine acquisition that my assemblage wanted to perceive much astir — isn’t that the people of a bully portion of content? 

Bonus: Dog contented ever sells.

If there’s 1 cardinal information that I tin talk to astir bikeblogging, it’s that canine contented ever sells. It mightiness not marque sense, it mightiness beryllium irrelevant, but sprinkle successful a fewer pics of pups if you tin and you mightiness conscionable spot your engagement spell up a small bit.

Definitely not a science, but it’s a wagon I’m consenting to hitch my equine to.