Burst Blog

We invite you to check out our interview with the very talented and informative travel blogger Darren Cronian, whose blog Travel Rants has been syndicated on Telus, MySanAntonio.com and Austin American-Statesman.

Q: What motivated you to start your blog?

A: Well, I started Travel Rants after a visit to a travel agent - I was frustrated and annoyed about the whole experience, and I needed to let off some steam. I couldn’t find any blogs to do that, so I created the Travel Rants blog. I am very passionate about travelling, and love writing about travel, so it seemed right to write about my travel experiences and plans.

Q: What travel blogs and other types of blogs do you enjoy reading?

A: Ohh, my blog reader is bursting! There are so many travel blogs I enjoy reading, but my favorite at the moment is Backpackers.com, which is well written and features up-to-date travel news stories. I also enjoy reading technology, SEO / Marketing, and sport blogs - primarily blogs that will help feed my brain with useful information. A non travel blog I’m enjoying reading at the moment is by Matt Cutts, a Google employee - it makes for interesting reading.

Q: Why did you join BlogBurst?

A: I was invited to join Blogburst prior to it’s launch, and I signed up because I wanted to prove to myself that my writing style and content was interesting to readers, and if a media publisher used my content then that gave me the incentive to carry on blogging. In the future, I’d love to travel and write about my experiences, and BlogBurst has given me that confidence.

Q: How has the syndication experience been going for you?

You cannot understand what a thrill it was when I saw my first blog article on the San Antonio Express website - a sense of achievement, and after a few days, my family and friends became tired of hearing how I had an article published on a Texas media web site! Since then I’ve had content published on Telus, Austin American-Statesman, and WCF Courier.

My aim now is to get my content published in the Washington Post and SF Gate, and persuade BlogBurst to tempt more European media publishers. I’m really impressed, how easy it was to set up the syndication. For the first month after the launch I became a little frustrated that my content wasn’t getting published, so I decided to write an improved profile and added an icon, and literally days later, I found myself on the San Antonio Express website.

Q: What has been your favorite travel destination and why?

A: I’d have to say, my trip around Australia, and especially the Great Barrier Reef and Cape Tribulation in Queensland. It’s not every day, that you can dive and snorkle along the coral reef with clown fish, and walk through the rainforest to view the beautiful blue ocean and bays - it was an experience, I’ll never forget. The people were so friendly, the beer was cold, and I was lucky enough to visit Sydney, Cairns, Port Douglas and Hobart within a five week period.