Law & Business Episode 48: Tina Vignali of the blog Traveleidoscope

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Email | RSS

On Episode 48 of the “Law & Business” podcast, it’s Tina Vignali of the blog Traveleidoscope.

We have a friendly chat about what the blog means from a business model standpoint and some hot travel topics as the world is beginning to not be friendly to travel for the time being.

Here is a lightly-edited transcript of the conversation:

Anthony Verna:
All right. Listeners, this is Anthony Verna back with you for another episode of the Law and Business Podcast. We are with today, Tina Vignali. How’d I do?

Tina Vignali:
Pretty good.

Anthony Verna:
All right. That, that silent G in Italian always throws me.

Tina Vignali:
Well, you’re Italian. You should…

Anthony Verna:
 I know, but that silent G always gets me.

Tina Vignali:
That’s okay.

Anthony Verna:
You know, even when I was taking Italian lessons, that silent G just gets me a little.

Tina Vignali:
Well, I won’t hold it against you.

Anthony Verna:
Thank you, my friend. Thank you. Tina is the main blogger at the Travelidoscope blog. All right. And my tongue is not caught up yet. So, Tina talk to me a little bit. Let’s start here. What specific niche and travel do you blog about?

Tina Vignali:
So, Anthony, thanks for having me. I typically blog about active travel, so that folds in with my personal interests. I’m an avid skier. I like to scuba dive, I like to hike, anything active, but I also keep in mind that there’s a broader audience. And so, I also like to blog about good food, great restaurants, and there’s even a travel related recipe in there from time to time.

Anthony Verna:
So what does active travel specifically mean?

Tina Vignali:
It can mean a lot of different things. As I mentioned, my personal interests are in very sporty activities, skiing, scuba diving, hiking, kayaking, anything like that. But it doesn’t have to specifically address those topics. It can just mean I’m not passive. So not in a tour group perhaps. But that’s not to say that I exclude going on a tour. I’ve done tours myself and they’re frequently very active. So, it can mean a lot of different things.

Anthony Verna:
Let’s wake up at 6:00 AM to catch the bus. But, I’m not working. I don’t want to wake up at six.

Tina Vignali:
You need a vacation from your vacation.

Anthony Verna:
Yes. I think I’ve made that joke a few times after tours. So, let’s move to the business side of this. Since this is the Law and Business podcast, how do you make money as a blogger? That’s always the first question around the blogging industry.

Tina Vignali:
Sure. I think it depends on what your personal goals are.

Anthony Verna:
Oh, and absolutely. That’s correct. Cause everybody’s blog is different. As we know, this podcast is a supplement to my law practice, same with my blog. I mean, all of that is in a way advertising, but for some people, blogging is their career.

Tina Vignali:
 And I admire that. That ability to do that. Unfortunately, I think that it’s better for me to supplement my career as a blogger. the way that I take a couple of different approaches. So, we know each other from PHL bloggers and that’s a great way to network because while traditional networking is more face to face, as we are today, but, you can also network through social media and I think that’s a really important way to find business, create business help others in the blogging world. And so, I think that’s a valuable way to produce and assist others. The other thing that I like to do is I like to get out and do work with libraries. So for example, I’ve done workshops at libraries where I discuss how you can use your library as a travel planning tool, not just for guidebooks but for things like if you are interested in finding out what kinds of foods you’ll like, get a recipe book from the destination that you’ll be traveling to or even music. Frequently libraries have CDs or records. So, you can find out what kind of music you’ll be hearing or even what kind of different movies or books.

Anthony Verna:
Do you find that when you host these seminars that people are then staying at the library looking up different types of food for regions?

Tina Vignali:
Yeah. It’s interesting because people traditionally think of libraries as going to get a book to read or they think of going to the library to get a travel guide to read so they can plan their trip, but they don’t frequently expand their universe to think of things that are more outside the box for traveling. Like just even finding a book that was written by an author from the country that you’re traveling to. So, it’s a way for people to think a little bit differently about the way they utilize the library for travel purposes.

Anthony Verna:
I have a friend who yesterday told me she and her husband are planning a trip to New Orleans and she goes, I don’t like Cajun food though. And I’m like you might be in trouble in New Orleans over not liking Cajun food.

Tina Vignali:
It’s obligatory that you have to like Cajun food in New Orleans.

Anthony Verna:
I mean, I was like, well  they’ve got raw bars and I have a friend right now in New Orleans and she took her daughter to a sushi restaurant and I’m like, wait, wait, wait. You could do that anywhere. In today’s world, you can do that everywhere. So right now with travel, and right now we’ve got coronavirus spreading. It feels as if travel
is down. A lot of European airlines are just empty airplanes to keep their time slots. What are some of the important topics that travelers should remember right now?

Tina Vignali:
Right. Well, of course the Coronavirus is the hot topic. And so I think you have to do a risk assessment if you are trying to decide whether or not you should travel somewhere. If you’re a healthy individual, that may be a different calculation than if you’ve got health related issues. But in the end, I think it’s a personal decision that no one can really tell you what is the best decision for you. Also, if you are concerned about whether your travel insurance will cover any cancellation, I think it’s best to track check your policy. But also sometimes policies don’t cover epidemics or pandemics. There are provisions for known risks and what is covered. But, also sometimes it’s also just best to reach out to your accommodations because sometimes they’re a little bit more flexible, particularly in the current situation that we’re in, the situation is evolving. We have very little data, particularly in the United States. We’re really at the front end of the coronavirus in the US.

Anthony Verna:
You mentioned travel insurance. I will fully admit that I don’t always buy travel insurance, so why should I change my habit?

Tina Vignali:
Well, you know, I think it’s always a good idea to have travel insurance, but I have to say I’m sometimes guilty of not.  If you have a credit card that has travel insurance that may be helpful. You can also buy per trip insurance, which is something that you frequently see when you purchase an airline ticket or there is even something that’s called annual travel insurance, which I have carried for quite some time. Of course this year I chose not to renew my policy. Those are depending on what your policy is. It can be about $200 to $300 a person per year. And that’s generally a very…

Anthony Verna:
That’s not bad at all.

Tina Vignali:
In fact, if you purchase pilot insurance and insurance policy per trip, you’ll find that if you travel enough, the cost of annual travel is lower than the cost of a per policy purchase. But again, that’s a personal calculation that you have to make. But why should you buy travel insurance? I think for reasons like the coronavirus, however, let me be clear that it’s not coronaviruses and pandemics and epidemics and things of this nature are not always covered. So, it’s important to check what policy you have. You can frequently have policies like cancel for any reason, but those are costlier. So, I think that you really have to look at your policy. You can also reach out to your accommodations. You can also reach out to the airlines. And at this particular time they’re a little bit more flexible right now.

Anthony Verna:
Given the circumstances, are you finding that people have besides just like not going to public events but they’re truly changing their travel plans right now?

Tina Vignali:
Yeah,  I hear that conversation every day, just in my normal life, not in the blogging world, but, you even see those questions on social media. Should I consider my trip to dot, dot, dot. And it doesn’t even have to be outside of the United States. It can be within the US and people are concerned about that. Rightly so. I mean, it’s uncertain times as I mentioned, where there’s not a lot of data on Corona virus or any other illness for that matter. So…

Anthony Verna:
I mean my parents were planning on traveling to Italy and since Italy is just closed at this point, obviously they’ve canceled that trip and they’ve rescheduled it, I think for November.

Tina Vignali:
Were they able to rearrange their itinerary? I don’t know if they were going on a tour or…

Anthony Verna:
It’s kind of a weird trip. I believe my mom is doing like a tour with her cousins and then my dad is going to go visit the rest of the family and hang out. So I think they haven’t had much of an issue because basically it was just changing the flights and then changing the hotels and then changing the vehicles that were going to be ready.

Tina Vignali:
Yeah. So that’s a really good example of when changing wasn’t very inconvenient for someone. So either your parents, but I think that if you’re with a tour, the tours are certainly well aware of that. I know of someone who had a trip to China planned and the tour company canceled the trip. Sure. Yeah. So, they were able to reschedule for a later time or get a refund. So, you know, certainly companies are sensitive to the fact that this coronaviruse is changing not just the complexion of travel, but the way we think about travel.

Anthony Verna:
So when you are thinking about a blog post, what are some of the topics , some of the key thoughts that you want to put in a post to that people are gonna read it and they’re actually going to sit down and click on it and read it. Because, let’s admit it, a lot of our blogs have a high bounce rate.

Tina Vignali:
That is true. Well you always have to have a catchy title, right? Something that’s going to attract people’s attention to want to read the post to begin with. Second of all, you have to be informative. I do a tremendous amount of research so that the information that I’m providing is as accurate as it can be. If I have, during the course of my research, if I found conflicting information, I’ll indicate that I’ve heard this, I’ve read this, it can be somewhere in between. I’m going to allow you to decide that. I also make sure that if I mentioned somewhere I’ve been, or somewhere I’ve stayed or somewhere that I’ve eaten, that I try and provide the link to that.

And from a business standpoint, the earlier in the post you mentioned those links, those backlinks, it is more beneficial to your blog. But from a standpoint of readership, I like to be able to provide information that people need. So, I look at it from if I was searching for information, what information would I need, what information would I rely on? And that’s a lot of times how I determine the information that I put in the blog post. But the actual topic will vary. Sometimes I get suggestions from readers. Sometimes I think about, Hmm, I’ve never thought about that. Maybe that would be a good way to think, to put in a blog post. For example, daylight saving time. I just did a blog post on daylight savings time and why we have it. And is it actually daylight saving time, daylight savings time. I like to be able to distill that information into about a three-minute read because we’re all really busy. So why would you want to have someone read a dissertation about daylight saving time when it’s easily distillable…

Anthony Verna:
 I’m a lawyer, half of my blog posts start dissertations.

Tina Vignali:
I understand that.

Anthony Verna:
But, but also usually the thing with daylight savings times… the keyword is always when does daylight savings time start. That’s like the keyword everybody wants.

Tina Vignali:
And it really depends on where you are in the world. I know that in the US we just changed onto daylight saving time. So we jumped ahead an hour. But when I was traveling back and forth to France, daylight saving time was a different time.

Anthony Verna:
Yeah. So that’s cause we decided it’d be weird here.

Tina Vignali:
Right, exactly. So it really depends. And in that particular post that I mentioned, I also found a website that tells you what countries go onto daylight saving time and when so I provided that link. So in case you’re wondering…

Anthony Verna:
My wife and I went to Sydney one October, so we changed times several times because that was the time that Sydney decided to go into what they call summertime’s. So daylight saving in October. So I went from fall to spring, but then also I had a second time change while staying in Sydney.

Tina Vignali:
And you crossed the International Date Line too.

Anthony Verna:
 My body was yelling and screaming at me for quite some time. Oh, it did not like me at all. No. So I noticed that on your blog you’ve got lots of logos here. So is that a part of your business model partnerships and the similar kinds of agreements?

Tina Vignali:
Yes. So, as far as my actual logo for my blog, I partnered with with Matt Reno Arts to create the blog. And I love it and he’s used it as an example, which I really appreciate. I really enjoy that blog. It makes me or the logo, it makes me happy. But also, I’m a member of the North American Travel Journalist Association and so it’s an association obviously of travel writers and I think that it’s helpful to in some ways legitimize your product. And so, from a business standpoint, there is a level of quality that I associate with belonging to certain organizations that which is helpful. And again, that’s part of your business model. You want to provide quality information, you want to provide a quality service. So anything that you can do in furtherance of that is always helpful. In addition, I also look for sponsorships because since my primary goal is to supplement my real life, I’ve made a decision to instead of actually trying to earn a real
living, which I think is incredibly difficult to do.

Anthony Verna:
Oh, I think that’s something a lot of people don’t realize is that to earn a full time employment income from blogging, from selling ads, from affiliate marketing, trying to do all of that is actually really difficult.

Tina Vignali:
Yeah, I agree. And if you’re a small business owner and so as a small business owner, you have to work constantly. It’s a full-time job. It’s not something that is a casual venture. So at least for me, the right decision was to seek out sponsorships. And what I mean by that is becoming a brand ambassador. So instead of being paid, they would provide their product to you and you would either write a post about it or do some social media marketing for them in the way of Instagram posts, et cetera.

Anthony Verna:
I’m glad that you mentioned that because one of the things that I think strange that a lot of people still don’t have their head wrapped around our federal regulations about that. If you are a movie reviewer for  the newspaper, you get to go to the movie for free. Now. I know that’s something that we all know, and we all understand. It’s a press screening. It’s their job, but you still get this benefit for free that other people have to pay for. But you don’t have to disclose that. Everybody knows you’re going to the movie. If you are doing that and the only place that you’re posting that is on a website and not in a newspaper that falls under the FTCs new media guidelines and therefore the free movie has to be disclosed. So therefore all of this quote unquote free stuff, you know, and obviously a lot of reviewers are getting it when you see unboxing videos, all of that’s being done, you know, at that generally on a sample basis or free basis or something like that. But all of that has to be disclosed under federal regulations.

Tina Vignali:
Yeah, that’s true. And to just to mention social media, Instagram requires that you disclose that.

Anthony Verna:
Oh, so it’s not good enough that the federal government requires that you disclose it? Instagram says so too.
Tina Vignali:
Of course. Because we all live by Instagram. No, no. But they have their own policies and guidelines too. So you’re required to disclose it under their policies and guidelines. But I also think that it’s just good business practice to disclose that it’s not that you’re getting it for free. You are actually working in exchange for receiving that product. It’s a contract.

Anthony Verna:
I whole heartedly agree with that philosophy. I have to state how it is not how I think it should be.

Tina Vignali:
So you are performing work in exchange for that product. So it’s effectively a contract. But I always think that it’s transparent. It’s a better business model to be transparent about what you’re being compensated for, whether it’s just in terms of a free product or whether you’re actually being compensated by a hourly rate or whatever the transaction is.

Anthony Verna:
So, since we are running short on time, let’s talk about some of your favorite trips. Give me a couple of trips that have turned into great posts for you. So, let’s make that combination. Great trip, great post.

Tina Vignali:
So sometimes they’re mutually exclusive. One of my favorite trips was a dive trip to Palau, which if you are a scuba diver, it’s sort of on your bucket list and and it is really scuba diving nirvana. But it’s difficult to get to and most people have never heard of it unless you’re a scuba diver. So, while it was a great trip, it wasn’t necessarily a great post because in reality most people, well it will be unlikely for them to travel there. One of my most popular posts was actually right here in Philadelphia,  Frankfurt hall and State Side vodka. It was a very, yes I did. I did a tour of State Side vodka and I did a tasting and which was great and I would advise taking a little tasting tour. And also Frankfurt Hall, which I went there for brunch and most people were not aware that they even had brunch available. So, it wound up being a very popular post.

Anthony Verna:
I mean that’s barely, barely travel for you out your front door.

Tina Vignali:
No travel doesn’t have to be around the world. It can be around the block.

Anthony Verna
Well, and again, going back to the fact that right now we’re under a lot of  health advisories. I think a lot of people probably need some advice as to what’s around the block.

Tina Vignali:
Yeah. And, and I think that it’s really important for people to remember that traveling doesn’t have to be about going to far flung places. While that’s great, it’s not always feasible from a time standpoint, nor is it always feasible from a money standpoint. So, I think you have to seek out adventures in your own backyard, which can be just as rewarding as going to some of your bucket list destinations.

Anthony Verna:
I hear you well on that, but there are some times when I’m just like, well, if it’s only a 10 minute drive away, it doesn’t feel like I’m doing all that much. Even if it is something.

Tina Vignali: (
Yeah. But you have to rethink how you view the staycation. Right. I know, but you really have to, you really have to think about the staycation as a vacation, as a standalone vacation. It’s a mini vacation. Sure. Because sometimes what you need is just to get away from it all for an hour or a day. You don’t need to get away from everything for a week because sometimes planning for that week vacation is a job.

Anthony Verna:
That’s true as well. That is very true. Although sometimes I like to wing it, but that’s true.
Tina Vignali:
And those are often the best experiences.

Anthony Verna:
What am I favorite? My wife and I went to Paris and I mean of course you do Paris, you do the Louvre, you do the Eiffel tower. But then like we did jazz clubs and my favorite was this place called the Caveau des Oubliettes, which means the cave of the forgotten. And it really is a jazz club in a cave. Like the top is beat up bar. It doesn’t feel like anything special. And then you walk down the stairs and like, Whoa, you’re actually in a cave. The year, I think it’s like 1455 or something is carved in one of the archways and it’s it’s a jazz club in a cave.

Tina Vignali:
And those are, that was probably an unexpected experience, but a great experience. Yeah. And those are frequently the best travel memories are the things that are unexpected.

Anthony Verna:
I’m with you on that, Tina. Thank you so much. It’s Traveleidoscope. All right. Thank you so much for coming and thanks everyone for listening to the Law and Business podcast. Don’t forget to rate us if you’re listening to us on your iOS device.