In 1995 I launched the Travelmag, an internet travel magazine, which went on to beat Lonely Planet and Moon Publications to win a 1997 Webby.
Unfortunately the newspapers then decided to put their travel sections online, for free. This was the last thing I’d expected and destroyed what had passed for my business plan.
Back then it seemed inconceivable that the major newspapers would put their travel copy online, for free, so I thought I was well ahead of the curve.
Sadly I wasn’t.
I kept the site ticking over, however, even when very busy, and tweaked the design when I had the time. It continued to grow.
Although I did at times take technical advice I produced the Travelmag entirely on my own and picked up a number of computer skills in the process, including a working knowledge of html and php.
Over the years the Travelmag has gone through a few changes. The quality of the writing was always variable – it showcased some of the best travel writing around as well as some of the worst – but display ads never took off so it came to rely on advertorials and paid-for links.
Gradually the admin of uploading advertorials and chasing payment proved just too dull. I have now subcontracted that out and, for the first time, applied a theme to the Travelmag, adding new features only when suitable copy becomes available. It looks smarter and takes a lot less of my time. Over the years it has become a repository of thousands of travel features contributed by hundreds of writers.
Over the years I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been told that Content is King. When and if this becomes true travelmag.co.uk may be of some value.