Switchback Travel 2.0

I hope everyone is getting out and enjoying the summer. Exciting times are on the horizon for Switchback Travel and I wanted to give a quick update:

First, I’m happy to announce that Switchback Travel 2.0 is on the way! I recently met with the folks who designed and developed the site (Hovie Studios and the Bear Group) and we have some terrific additions in the works. Here are the highlights:

1. More Countries
Switchback Travel launched less than a year ago with three featured countries: New Zealand, Norway, and Nepal. We will continue to add content for these countries and will begin expanding our list of featured destinations. Among the new places to be added are the United States, Canada, and Patagonia, with more soon to follow.

2. New ‘Outdoor News and Lifestyle’ Section
In addition to destination-specific content, your response has been overwhelmingly positive to special features. Our Top 10 Adventure Destinations for 2012 has been ‘Recommended’ on Facebook over 2,200 times alone! To grow this genre, a new Outdoor News and Lifestyle section will be added to the homepage with news, current events, gear reviews, outdoor movie and book reviews, and much more. It should be a terrific section—we already have new lines of outdoor gear being tested high in Wyoming’s Wind River Range.

3. New ‘Outdoor Events Ticker’
Also new to the homepage will be an Outdoor Events Ticker designed to keep everyone up to date with relevant happenings related to the outdoors. The ticker will be in sync with a range of outdoor organizations and companies and readers of Switchback Travel will be able to submit their events for consideration.

4. New Blog Design
The Switchback Travel blog is getting updated with custom design and will be a central component of upcoming trips. I’ve always believed that the blog could compliment the permanent content pages nicely by chronicling travel experiences to these incredible places in real time. The new blog design will enhance the reader experience and we are excited for what it will bring.

5. Comment Sections
The Switchback Travel community is full of valuable knowledge and input and our articles will soon feature a cutting edge comment platform from Disqus. Instead of old and clunky comment fields that many sites run, the Disqus comment platform is modern, easy to use, and featured by some of the top sites on the internet. You will be able to log in and comment via Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo!, and more.

6. New Advertising Platform
The demand for advertising space on Switchback Travel has been growing steadily and to accommodate we are installing a slick new advertising platform. For companies that wish to buy ad space directly, the process will be seamless. Simply pick the desired pages and duration, upload the ad, and upon approval the ad will appear to our readers. Switchback Travel also will be entering established high-end advertising markets to be visible to a wide range of companies around the world.

On the whole, it’s been a terrific ride getting Switchback Travel going and we are thrilled to begin expanding the site. Most of all, thanks to all the readers and to the outdoor and travel communities.
 

David Wilkinson