How did I create "Travels of a Life"?

Travels-of-life.com is my website, where I’ve been sharing my travel experiences for over five decades.

In the course of my professional career, I’ve been in charge of corporate communications as a decision-maker, but not as a director or creator. I seized the opportunity of this blog to acquire, or improve, skills in website design, graphic design, copywriting, and SEO.

The site is entirely created and managed by myself. That’s my challenge!

• Site creation and maintenance
• Definition and implementation of the graphic charter
• The choice of visuals.
• Copywriting
• English translation
• Comment moderation

It’s an amateur site, but one that aims to be as professional as possible.

Site creation stages

Step 1: Learn how to create a website.

These are the basics. There are easy-to-implement turnkey solutions, such as Blogger. They didn’t suit me, because they were too restrictive and gave an amateur image.

So I chose to do it on WordPress.org, which is the reference with over 60% market share in the CMS (Content Management System) field.

I’m, first, planning to take a training course. Face-to-face? Remote? I prefer the second option. It has the advantage of allowing me to learn at my own pace. A face-to-face course is short and dense. There’s no time to assimilate and the level of the trainees, who are often heterogeneous, means that the courses either go too fast or not fast enough.

After a comparative study, I chose WPchef. After 2 months of courses at a rate of 10 to 15 hours per week, I feel ready to launch my site. I warmly recommend this high-quality training course if you want to create your site. It’s in French.

Thanks to it, while I did not know about website creation just a couple of years ago, you’re now able to browse my blog.

Step 2: Choose a hosting provider.

On the advice of WPchef and after comparative reviews on the web, I chose O2switch. It’s a French hosting company offering a comprehensive package with no capacity limits (unlimited disk space and traffic). Their reputation for seriousness and reliability is very good, for a moderate price.

So far, I’m very satisfied.

Step 3: Find the site name

Simple? Well, no! I spent hours on it. The best names had already been taken for a long time. A former Air France colleague and friend, Giovanna Chiarelli Huet helped me to find the name of the blog: “Travels of a life”.

The name of the site “Travels of a life” explicitly indicates the positioning of the blog, where I talk about the journeys I’ve made throughout my life.

It’s in English, as I had planned from the outset that an English version of the site would be added to the first, which is in French.

What’s more, English is the language most travelers use. So it’s a wink, but also a message for French speakers. I’m convinced that, paradoxically, a better command of English on the part of the latter, and in particular the French people, would be the most effective way of defending the interests and language of French speakers.

Finally, to improve search engine optimization, I had to have the word “travel” in the name.

To limit the risk of addressing errors or of a competitor taking over the name, I have protected the trademark in four ways:

• Travels-of-a-life.com
• Travelsofalife.com
• Travels-of-a-life.fr
• Travelsofalife.fr

Travels-of-a-life.com is the official website. Other addresses are redirected to this one.

Step 4: Define the graphic charter

In my last position, as I recount in my story, I was responsible for the SkyTeam brand.

With my team, we had to define the SkyTeam alliance’s graphic charter, obtain the agreement of the 19 member airlines, and finally enforce the principles adopted. A fascinating job, but oh so difficult! Each company had its conception of what the brand should be. Finding a consensus was far from easy!

So when it came to defining the graphic charter for “Travels of a Life”, I took great pleasure in being the sole decision-maker!

Delphine Dauge Chomette head of the Brandimage who assists the alliance with its branding issues, and was my partner during my 5 years with SkyTeam, kindly offered to create a tailor-made graphic charter for me.

On reflection, I decided to make it myself. The result might be less professional, but more in the spirit of my blog, where my challenge is to do everything myself.

So I defined my logo, my typography, and my color palette according to my site’s positioning, which I’ll explain a little further in this presentation of my blog’s genesis.

Step 5: Define the editorial line

There are plenty of travel blogs out there. What makes me special is that I’ve traveled both professionally and personally. I’ve decided to organize my blog along three lines:

• Inspiration from my own travels
• Sharing my best tips
• Taking a step back from the issues of travel and transport.

I choose to write, not make videos or podcasts. Generation X is still attached to the written word. It’s a mode of expression where I feel more at ease.

For visuals, I mostly use photos taken by myself or my partner. Exceptions are indicated on the site. I don’t claim to be a professional photographer, but I do want to share with my readership what I’ve seen and enjoyed on my travels.

Step 6: Promote the site

The Internet is a fantastic place to express yourself. The challenge is to make ourselves heard. To do this, I apply the rather complex principles of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) that I’m learning as my site evolves.

The challenge is to stay true to myself and not fall into the trap of some blogs that seek to maximize their audience at the expense of substance.

“Travels of a Life” has a presence on social networks. It’s not my priority, however, because I don’t want to become an intasgrammer where the blogger shows off advantageous photos of himself. I also avoid giving my opinion, without nuance, in a few dozen characters on X (e.g. Twitter) as some do.

Step 7: Launch an English version of the site

In the winter of 2023/24, I decided to launch the English version of “Travels of a Life” to reach a more international target.

After an in-depth study, I chose WPML to manage the bilingual site and Deepl to help me with the translations.

The “Travels of a Life“

Title typography

I chose Dancing Script. It’s a handwritten typeface that refers to pre-internet and pre-computer writing, an era I experienced in my early 20s. It lendsa relaxed, informal, and friendly spirit to my site. It was created by an Argentinian, Pablo Impallari.

Text typography

I selected Lato. It’s a sans-serif font of Polish origin created in 2010 by Łukasz Dziedzic. The semi-rounded details of the lettering give Lato a warm feel, while the solid structure offers stability and reliability. It’s easy to read and gives a modern, forward-looking look. It contrasts with the nostalgic typography of the titles.

The color palette

I wanted it in warm, cheerful shades that invite you to travel. It was important to avoid an overly corporate tone, but not to give a “Christmas tree” impression that would have been too amateurish.

The main color of the site is blue. It expresses the sky on a clear day. Blue is also the dominant color of airlines, a sector to which I have devoted 34 years of my professional life. This blue is cheerful without being flashy. (Aero blue #88B2D3).

I also use a darker version of blue , reminiscent of the night trains I worked for during my studies. It’s not too dark either, as it represents the night just before dawn (“Bdazzled Blue” #2C5777).

Yellow is used primarily for the site’s buttons. It evokes the warmth of the sun and attracts the eye. He notes the coldness that blue backgrounds can sometimes impart. It is still used for writing hyperlinks on a blue background. (Mustard yellow #FFDE5C).

Orange-red highlights hyperlinks. It originated as a mineral pigment in fresco painting until the mid-15th century. In this way, he evokes the artisanal side of the site. Its hue is also that of many corals threatened by our civilization. It’s a message to illustrate the fragility of travel. (Orange-red “Sinopia” #CC3D00)

Pale yellow evokes thelook of sandy beaches and buildings in my home town of Paris. It’s also used to highlight the background of certain boxes, such as the previous text on the stages in the creation of my site. (Pale yellow “Old Lace” #FEFAE)

Blacks, more or less dense, are used for titles and text.

Finally, white is the main background color for text. It plays a functional role in easy reading of the blog. It is incidentally reminiscent of the snow of winter landscapes.

The logo

The logo is based on the Dancing Script typography, with the meaning already described above.

It is inscribed on a yellow lozenge, an optimistic color, and symbol of hope.

The diamond is a rich shape with five major meanings that explain the logo of my site:

1. First and foremost, it is a symbol of transmission. Belonging to Generation X, I want to be a link between older generations like the boomers, and younger ones like the millenials on the theme of travel.
2. It finds its balance in a dynamic. Otherwise, the form doesn’t hold. But it’s the spirit of travel to be on the move!
3. It combines two triangular configurations. One faces the sky, with the airplanes that have played such an important role in my life. The other faces the earth, my anchorage point.
4. It’s a symbol of femininity, a part of my personality that I embrace. The angles and sharp edges of the diamond reflect my masculinity.
5. Finally, the rhombus evokes a diamond. Behind it all lies the idea that travel is something precious, and that its exceptional nature should be preserved.

The logo is fully expressed against the site’s main blue background.

A version with the pale yellow “Old Lace” is possible on dark backgrounds or photos, as on the site’s home page.

Blog success criteria

I know that the success of a blog is measured over time. So if in a few years my blog still exists, and I continue to learn new things and enjoy writing it, that will already be a great success.

Too many blogs die after a few months because the authors have underestimated the workload involved and expect quick results in terms of audience.

Of course, I’ll be happy if my blog is known by a lot of people. But I don’t want to make it a goal. I prefer to focus on quality. Getting positive feedback that my articles have helped my readership or made them think about travel would be my greatest reward.

What about monetizing the blog? It’s the dream of many bloggers to be able to make a living from their site. Don’t kid yourself: few can manage it. So I’m not setting myself any targets in this area, but I’ll be keeping an eye out for any opportunities that come my way later on.

There are currently no affiliate links on this site. If this changes, I’ll announce it very explicitly.

Finally, even if blogging is a rather solitary exercise, my last criterion for success will be the extent to which it has enabled me to meet new people! Either for professional opportunities or new friendships.