@Lorraine, do let us know your thoughts once you’ve started the course. We’ll ask Scott to amplify his thoughts on the two, but I think he’s already covered some of that in the review above. What kind of details where you after?

I haven’t seen the inside of MatadorU, however based on the reviews I’ve read, and the information they make public, I believe the formats are similar (online lessons, forum for discussions/feedback). Each course and community is geared toward different goals.

The curriculum of MatadorU is focused on building your skills as a travel writer. It will cover topics such as how to properly pitch an editor (whether for print publications or online blogs). It will include writing assignments so you can learn the craft of writing professional-quality travel narratives.

I considered joining MatadorU when it came out last year, but the cost stopped me at first. I thought about whether I was really willing to commit to learning the art of travel writing, and then making use of that knowledge to try and pitch magazines like National Geographic Traveler.

I realized, in the end, that I was happy writing for my own travel blog, and that if I continued to grow it, I could eventually make enough money from advertising and affiliates that I wouldn’t need to write for other people (in fact, they’d want to write for me to gain exposure…which is the case today).

I developed Travel Blog Success for other travelers like me who want to learn the nuts and bolts of developing a popular and profitable travel blog, and aren’t necessarily concerned with being published in the New York Times Travel section.

I’d be happy to answer any more specific questions you have. You can reach me at rtwdave at gmail dot com.

I can appreciate your approach to learning about blogging as I did the same thing. It’s hard to believe I’ve been blogging for over 3 years now.

One reason I think travelers will appreciate the course and community I’m creating is that many people do not start working on a travel blog until they are just 1 or 2 months away from a long term trip (6+ months).

As a result, they don’t have the time to discover on their own all the techniques necessary to establish a high quality blog, promote it, and potentially make some money from it.

That’s where Travel Blog Success and my personal support can help make their lives a little easier.

Thanks for your answer, I never thought it that way.

I like to think of it as learning from travel bloggers 1.0 to become travel bloggers 2.0