Clik here to view.
Why Single Topic Blogs are Better
I recently went onto a blog about social media tips and tore right into the first article it featured. It took me until I was halfway through the article before I realized that it had nothing to do...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Success Means Becoming Your Image
I had a friend when growing up who was a great musician. He led a band that played for a very defined niche audience. This social niche that he played for had a certain way of dressing, a certain way...
View ArticleClik here to view.
You Have to Know That You Suck To Improve
My three year old daughter sucks at jumping. This is no problem except for the fact that she thinks she’s doing it right. She jerks her little body forward and calls it a jump without really lifting...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How Much Money Can You Make With Chitika Ads?
How much money can you make serving Chitika ads on your site? Pretty much none. Seriously, Chitika has to be one of the worst major ad platforms for publishers out there in terms of payouts. In point,...
View ArticleTorched From the Adsense Program (and Liberated from Pay Per Click Advertising)
Update, 23/01/2013: After submitting an appeal, Adsense re-enabled ad serving to this site. I’m not sure if I’m going to put the ads back up, please read this article and tell me your opinion in the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
CNN May Have Ripped Off Vagabond Journey
In December I did a report on the New South China Mall — aka the World’s Largest Ghost Mall — that garnered a good deal of media attention. Business Insider, The Daily Mail, Yahoo, Jyllands Posten, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Benefits Of Using A Tablet For Travel Blogging
I am typing this while sitting under a tree in a park next to a canal. I am outside, observing what is going on around me, enjoying a warm summer day, watching butterflies land on flowers and dragon...
View ArticleHow I Make Money From My Blogs Via Advertising
I’ve been making money off of my blogs since 2005 and blogging has been my full time job and main source of income since 2009. To put it bluntly, I’ve been through the gauntlet of advertising programs,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Google, Please Return My Image Search Traffic
There was once a day — no, not a day, years — when my main blog, www.VagabondJourney.com, would pull in 4 to 5,000 unique visitors per day. Life was good, this site was perpetually on the rise, I was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How To Use Google Image Search To Build BackLinks
Around six months ago I found on of my images in some random Google image search, but the site that it was published on wasn’t one of my own. No big deal, when you publish tens of thousands of images...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Backend Of Internet Advertising: Your Ads Slow Page Load Speed
Those ad units you run on your site don’t just do what they appear to do. No, those javascript rendering banners and text links that you make your living from don’t just show advertisements, they...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How To Make A Blog Load Faster? Kill Unneeded Plugins
Plugins are one of the best things about using the WordPress CMS, though they are also some of the worst page load lag time offenders. We reported last week about how advertisements can severely...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Ultimate Travel Writing Device Goes Extinct as Times Change
It is easy to assume that the technologies, things, people, and places that are around us today will always be there. We know that times change but it always comes as a shock to the system when an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Sign a Digital Document and Email Without a Scanner and Printer
None but the most intense of digital nomads would travel long term with their own scanners and printers . . . No, only an absolute idiot would travel with a scanner and a printer . . . No, I’m going...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How Being a Digital Nomad Destroyed my Feet
A traveler’s feet are everything, it’s their prime vehicle of locomotion. You can lose an arm, an ear, some fingers, a testicle and you may look like a monster, but it’s not really going to impact your...
View ArticleDigital Nomad: Using Google Surveys to Adapt and Survive as an Independent...
When I first began publishing on the internet full time in 2005 it was still a Wild West kind of environment, there was an excitement that resonated throughout the industry. People who simply had...
View ArticleDigital Nomad: The Difficulties of Blogging with the WordPress App
When in stretches of fast travel I often only carry a Samsung tablet and an Alphasmart Neo as my writing and publishing devices. They are way lighter and portable than my laptop, and as I’m often just...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Blackberry Passport: The Ultimate Blogging Device?
There has only been three times when my work has been fundamentally disrupted by the acquisition of a new technology. The first time was in 2006 when my mother gave me an Alphasmart Neo, the second...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gear And Strategy Upgrade Day: Mobile Journalism Improvements
I filed eight articles and six blog posts last week. While that’s hardly a week’s work for the average staff reporter, that’s a heavy load for me. I admire how those staff reporters can machine-gun off...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Getting VoIP International Phone Numbers
Each time I roll into a country my phone number changes due to my ever-revolving parade of local SIM cards. Sometimes I lose phone capabilities entirely if I’m in a country for too short of a duration...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Traveling Webmaster/ SEO Consultant
Traveling Webmaster SEO Consultant Independent Travel Business SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico- “If you can get creative, you can make money from it,” Mandy spoke in the backyard of a coffee house...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Freelance Writing to Fund Travels
Freelance Writing to Live Abroad or to Travel SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico- “I will probably write two books and fifty articles this month,” Rachael spoke matter of factly while sipping a beer. I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Digital Nomad or Economic Refugee?
Are you a Digital Nomad or an Economic Refugee? BOGOTA, Colombia- Digital nomads can recognize each other on sight. This is not to say that there is a secret hand shake, a uniform, a badge, a club...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Being a Self-Employed Digital Nomad is a Real Job
I created 19 websites, wrote and published two blog posts, made good headway on a book, added a graphic to purchase my digital magazine on VJT, sent off some emails to advertising partners and other...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Don’t Waste Time Styling Your Blog – It’s the Content that Counts
In this period in the evolution of the internet, where even the most fledgling independent blogger is competing with and being compared to the big boys ticking off posts for corporate web properties...
View ArticleWhy Travelers NEED to Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network)
I’m in China now, a country that blocks almost all major foreign social media networks and heavily censors the internet, but I’m able to post on Facebook, tweet, upload videos to Youtube, and browse...
View ArticleVLOG_025: Getting A New Camera In The Gray Market Of Taipei
VLOG_025 is about shopping for a camera in Taipei. I needed a camera that could take both good still images and video, and I went for a Sony a6000. This is a mirrorless camera that is FAST. I’m a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Penang: Top Five Base Of Operations For Digital Nomad
Penang has it all: Excellent weather; Traditional culture; Modern whatever-you-want. This is a place of historic buildings, superimposed layers of culture, and beaches, as well as modern...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I Return To Penang (What Should Be The Epicenter For Asia’s Digital Nomads)
I returned to Penang and I’m happy. We’re back for three or so weeks to hang out with my wife’s family and to sop up a little more of a place that I’ve found to be one of the best bases of operation...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Should I Buy The New BlackBerry?
I am a BlackBerry user. This used to mean that I was trendy and chic, ahead of my time — someone who worked on the internet and took online publishing seriously. My first smartphone was a BlackBerry...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Replacing A Broken Screen On An iPhone
They said it couldn’t be done. My dad and wife. They watched a Youtube video with me about how to replace the screen on an iPhone SE. The directions were ridiculous: tiny screws and difficult to reach...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hacking My Blackberry So I Don’t Have To Buy A New One
I considered buying the new BlackBerry Key2. I put up a blog post about it and asked you what you thought. The concensus? If you need it for your work and your stupid iPhone is really holding you...
View ArticleWhy I Bought A MacBook Pro Retina Mid-2015 Model In 2018
I had one of my little electronics-inspired freak outs this morning. They arrive from time to time, usually invited by my cutting of corners and going for a cheaper model at the expense of performance....
View ArticleApologies: Disqus Comments Removed Because Of Skimlinks (Thieves!)
After some tumultuous times when I removed the comments section of this blog and other mini upheavals we again have a nice little community of commentors on this blog. I went with the Disqus comments...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why Do iPhone Screens Break So Easily?
I thought that I was pretty cool when I replaced the cracked screen on my iPhone myself a few weeks ago. I told my wife and father who doubted me to shove it — I won: They said it couldn’t be done. My...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How To Store And Archive Travel Videos And Images
ROCHESTER, New York- It almost feels like a ritual. Every time I return to my parent’s house from a year or so abroad I pile up all of the external hard drives that I’ve accumulated in the intervening...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How To Hook A Camera Up To A Laptop For Live Video For Facebook / YouTube /...
ROCHESTER, New York- For some reason, many major media sources in the world don’t seem to care if they air video interviews with people recorded via Skype that look and sound absolutely horrid. But...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Can You Travel Vlog With A Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K?
PRAGUE, Czech Republic- Yes. Yes, you can vlog with a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K (BMPCC4K ). Even though the manufacturer put an innovative second record button on the front of the camera just...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K Taught Me About Pre-Orders
I never pre-ordered anything before. I simply wasn’t aware that when popular electronic devices first come out it can be a really long time before there is enough available for regular retail sales...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How To Keep Batteries Charged When Traveling To Remote Locations
“I will be out on an island in PNG for about a week and I think electricity may be non-existent. What do you use to keep your batteries charged for such an extended trip.” Keeping batteries charged...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Digital Nomad Gear: ZeroLemon Extreme Charge Station Review
Chargers, cables, adapters, plugs, batteries, power strips, more chargers, more cables … This is the life of the digital nomad. If you want to travel with your electronics — the tools of the trade —...
View ArticleNo Travels This Month (Unless You Count Buffalo)
ASTORIA, New York- I decided to invest in equipment rather than travel this month. I’m starting to add a little more structure into my operating procedures — progressing on this path demands it — and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Best Digital Nomad Phone: The Blackberry Key2
I had a problem a couple of years ago: I replaced my Blackberry Passport with an iPhone and my professional life fell of a cliff. I never got the hang of typing on a touchscreen and, compared with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I Bought A Google Pixel 3a Camera Phone For $299
ASTORIA, New York City- Something inside me hates to say this, but the smartphone is the #1 piece of digital nomad gear. While I’d love to say that my MacBook Pro is tops or my Blackmagic cinema...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Travel To Kansas To Film A Documentary
ASTORIA, New York- It seems funny to me how important we thought our film project was then. We were like a robin obliviously chirping away on a telephone wire on a sunny day just before some brat...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Finding The Best Transcription Program And Revolutionizing My Workflow
ASTORIA, NYC- Writing is a game of volume. It is also a game of speed. The more you write, the faster you publish, the more stories you can cover and, ultimately, the more money you can make. If it...
View Article