The art of a press trip takes a bit of skill and I won’t lie, luck. I honestly never thought that I would go on a get a press trip. Even though I have been traveling all of my life I have only been blogging for just over a year. There are so many popular travel blogs out there that I never thought that I would have enough exposure in order to be considered a candidate!
Luckily I was wrong when Keren from the Once In A Lifetime Project contacted me about a possible opportunity of working together on a trip to Israel. Once chosen, I would join 5 other bloggers on a two week trip all across the country.
Another thing that I am excited about is meeting the “WordPress extraordinaire”, Chris Richardson, from TheAussienomad.com. Word on the street has it that he makes all travel bloggers he meets try vegemite. Vegemite is some sort of concoction that you eat that he loves and everyone else hates! I’m definitely up for The Vegemite Challenge to see if I can actually to eat anything in the world.
The Art of the Press Trip to me is quite simple. First and foremost you have to have some kind of online presence. That can be a website or even a personal blog but you need to have a medium of communication where people can find you. The second and most important step in my opinion is exposure.
There are tons of lists out there that you want to be a part of; top ten lists, best lists, award lists.
You should try and get on as many lists as possible. Klout is one of the new lists that has gained authority over the last year. If you haven’t heard of Klout I recommend that you head over to Klout.com and take a look around. More and more people are using this twitter based service to identify those people that are authorities in their field.
Most people honestly disagree how most of these lists are calculated. Either way, by getting on more and more lists it gives you the opportunity to get more exposure. The more exposure that you receive the better your chances to get a press trip. Contact me if you’re in the travel field and I can send you a few of the lists that you want to be on.
This works to your advantage as well when you are looking to make a living off you blog. Most advertisers find travel bloggers via these lists.
Once everything was finalized I was contacted by the official Israel tourism board contact in New York city and within hours I had an e-ticket confirmation for Swiss Air.
Thankfully, Swiss Air isn’t part of the dreaded Sky Team Alliance. A small form needed to be filled out with proof of travel insurance. I quickly hopped online and found a few travel insurance quotes and bought my policy and that was it. I rarely buy travel insurance and this will be the second time that I am required to purchase it outside of the cruise to Antarctica that I took.
That is pretty much the gist of it in my opinion. The most important thing is becoming an authority online in your field.
You don’t have to be #1 in your field, just become an authority online and you will get plenty of exposure. I am super excited for this trip not only because it’s my first press trip but also because it will my first time in Israel. I am super stoked to be visiting a country with so much culture and history.
Stay tuned for updates and scheduling of the trip!
Well done old man! Very jealous here!! Hopefully when I hit my one year mark Israel will come a calling. (Spent 4 months there btw — you will LOVE it!)
Haha love the pic of your press badge 😛
Congrats on getting on your first trip. Lets hope it’s the first of many! 🙂
Thanks so much! I am very excited as well!
hahah can’t wait either man… bring on the vegemite!
Thanks so much Laura I appreciate it!
Israel – what a fun opportunity!! I got to meet up with Chris when I was in London this summer. Thankfully he didn’t bring the vegemite to the bar, haha 😀 Good luck with the challenge.
Congrats on the press trip. I spent four months in Israel last year. Take some time to read up on the country before you go. It’s an interesting place and there is a lot of misinformation out there.
Thanks so much!
Keep working at it Kelly and you will! I always love helping out other travel bloggers dont hesitate to send me a shout out
Thanks Alyson! What city are you in?
I hope that on your trip you will attempt to visit the West Bank, it’s where Bethlehem (birth-place of Jesus) and Hebron (Burial site for prophet Abraham) are located. Also, Nablus where a tiny Samaritan community still lives. I do hope that you won’t tell that to Israeli officials because that will cause an immediate bar on your entry, since Israel IS an Apartheid state where visiting it’s occupied territories/ Palestinian bantustans, is exposing the big lie about Israel’s democracy. I know you would try to avoid politics when you’re on your trip, but politics won’t avoid you. Israel/ Palestine, are a big political theme. The culture and history are all confiscated or stolen from Palestinians, and Israeli Jewish identity is really just mostly modern Yiddish. Also, one last hope, Falafel and Hummus are NOT Israeli, these, too, belong to the native indigenous Palestinians.