The Nomadic Matt blog is run by Matt Kepnes, and is focused on travel. Matt Kepnes quit his cubicle job to travel the world about ten years ago, and on his blog he writes, “it’s my mission now to help others like you to realize their travel dreams.” Through his blog, Nomadic Matt, Matt Kepnes seeks to help people from all walks of life travel.
One way he does this is by targeting specific audiences through titles and incorporating other travelers experiences. Examining some of the titles reveals that the author's diction is intended to capture the attention of certain audiences. For example, “Why This Family Took Their Teens on an Epic RTW Trip” clearly targets families with teenagers. Matt Kepnes calls on this audience by specifically stating “family” and “teens” and then describing their trip as “epic.” At the end of the article, the related articles continue to target this family audience. These articles include “7 Common Excuses People Use to Avoid Family Travel,” “Why Road Trips are a Good Idea for Family Travel,” and “9 Tips for Better Family Travel.”
Another post, titled “6 Women Who Conquered Personal Mountains to Travel the World,” is catered to women travelers, specifically those who may have something holding them back from traveling. Kepnes writes, “It’s an important topic I can’t adequately cover, so I brought in an expert to share her advice,” which shows he is aware that his perspective is limited, so he brings in other’s experiences to reach the audience. This article features travel stories of six women from different backgrounds. By including stories from six women of different backgrounds, as opposed to fewer or more similar, he increases the chances of the reader relating to one of these stories. As with the family travel article, the related articles at the bottom continue to appeal to this group. They include, “Women Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Travel Alone,” “Conquering Mountains: A Guide to Solo Female Travel,” and “How to Gain the support of Your Friends and Family.”
A third article that targets a specific audience through its title, as well as brings in someone knowledgeable on the topic, is “How Not to Let Anxiety Stop You from Traveling.” Matt Kepnes introduces the topic by connecting his experience to what people with anxiety experience, but then leads into Lauren Juliff sharing her experience with dealing with anxiety and traveling. by having someone who has struggled with anxiety address this topic, the Nomadic Matt blog becomes more credible to address this topic. In general, the use of diction in the articles to address specific audiences and incorporating the experiences of others allow the Nomadic Blog to target and connect with a larger audience.
Another way the Nomadic Matt blog seeks to reach a broader range of audiences is through variation in the types of posts. The first page of the blog includes articles titled: “Visiting Isaan: Adventures Through Rural Thailand,” “My (Current) Ultimate List of Travel Movies,” and “Now Open: the Ultimate Travel Blogging Course.” The visiting Isaan post is typical of what one might expect on a travel blog. Matt Kepnes writes, “This area may be rural and lack the activities of other regions, but Isaan is a diamond in the rough and a visit here will give you a fascinating look at small-town Thailand.” The article describes what Isaan is like and makes the argument of why the reader should visit there. The post about travel movies is a little different and can still interest someone even if the don’t see themselves traveling anytime soon. It is introduced as, “a list of my all time favorite travel movies that will inspire you to get off the couch, pack your bag, and head to unknown lands.” It still stays true to the purpose of the blog of getting people to get out and travel, even though it is discussing movies.
Another way the Nomadic Matt blog seeks to reach a broader range of audiences is through variation in the types of posts. The first page of the blog includes articles titled: “Visiting Isaan: Adventures Through Rural Thailand,” “My (Current) Ultimate List of Travel Movies,” and “Now Open: the Ultimate Travel Blogging Course.” The visiting Isaan post is typical of what one might expect on a travel blog. Matt Kepnes writes, “This area may be rural and lack the activities of other regions, but Isaan is a diamond in the rough and a visit here will give you a fascinating look at small-town Thailand.” The article describes what Isaan is like and makes the argument of why the reader should visit there. The post about travel movies is a little different and can still interest someone even if the don’t see themselves traveling anytime soon. It is introduced as, “a list of my all time favorite travel movies that will inspire you to get off the couch, pack your bag, and head to unknown lands.” It still stays true to the purpose of the blog of getting people to get out and travel, even though it is discussing movies.
In the article about the travel blogging course, the author introduces his blogging course. The purpose of the course is to learn “the Business of Blogging” to be able to make money while traveling to pay for your expenditures. Matt Kepnes writes, “I want to teach you how to get here too. There’s plenty of room in travel for all of us… it’s a 1 trillion dollar industry, after all! There is no reason why you can’t be successful as well.” While the main purpose of this article is to feature the blogging course, he stays true to the overall blog purpose of helping people travel. The variety of the articles on the Nomadic Matt blog serve to reach a variety of people and help them get out and travel.
The Nomadic Matt blog contains pages of posts about specific topics. By including a page on couple’s travel and a page on solo female travel, the blog seeks out an audience larger that just those that can relate to Matt Kepnes experiences. Both of these pages begin with a description below the header where Matt Kepnes explains why he lacks expertise on these subjects and that the posts contain advice from travelers with first hand experience. On the solo female travel page, Kepnes writes, “I can’t offer advice on that subject (since I’m a guy!) so I got some female travel writers to offer their advice.” Similarly, on the couple’s travel page, he writes, “As a solo traveler, I can’t relate as I’ve never traveled with my partner (I don’t have one!). So I enlisted the help of my traveling couple friends to provide advice on how to deal with traveling with a partner because the couple that can travel together, stays together.”
The couple’s travel page features stories and advice from different people who have experience traveling with a partner. Some of the posts featured on the couple's travel page include, “Coping with Fights on the Road,” The Importance of Personal Time,” and “Dividing up Travel Responsibilities.” Every one of these posts is accompanied by a photo of a couple, but all of the photos are different. They variety includes running on the beach, posing with sled dogs, covered in mud, in snow, and dining in a restaraunt. By including such a variety of photos, the author is trying to reach a variety of couples whose travel goals may be entirely different.
The Nomadic Matt blog contains pages of posts about specific topics. By including a page on couple’s travel and a page on solo female travel, the blog seeks out an audience larger that just those that can relate to Matt Kepnes experiences. Both of these pages begin with a description below the header where Matt Kepnes explains why he lacks expertise on these subjects and that the posts contain advice from travelers with first hand experience. On the solo female travel page, Kepnes writes, “I can’t offer advice on that subject (since I’m a guy!) so I got some female travel writers to offer their advice.” Similarly, on the couple’s travel page, he writes, “As a solo traveler, I can’t relate as I’ve never traveled with my partner (I don’t have one!). So I enlisted the help of my traveling couple friends to provide advice on how to deal with traveling with a partner because the couple that can travel together, stays together.”
The couple’s travel page features stories and advice from different people who have experience traveling with a partner. Some of the posts featured on the couple's travel page include, “Coping with Fights on the Road,” The Importance of Personal Time,” and “Dividing up Travel Responsibilities.” Every one of these posts is accompanied by a photo of a couple, but all of the photos are different. They variety includes running on the beach, posing with sled dogs, covered in mud, in snow, and dining in a restaraunt. By including such a variety of photos, the author is trying to reach a variety of couples whose travel goals may be entirely different.
The solo female travel page is similar to that of the couple’s travel, but it is filled with advice for travel concerns that are associated with solo female travel. Many of the articles are focused on safety such as “Safety Tips for Solo Female Travelers” and “Is It Safe to Travel India Alone?,” but the overall theme of all of these articles is empowering women to travel the world, and be safe doing so. The post “Why Solo Female Travel is Different” is written by a Kristin Addis who has experience traveling alone and describes why solo travel can be different for females. Addis writes, “Because, like it or not, women and men do have different concerns when it comes to traveling, especially when alone.” This is why Matt Kepnes makes a point to include this section on his blog. These section addressing more specific concerns cater to certain audiences so that the Nomadic Matt blog can provide advice to a greater range of people.
In conclusion, Matt Kepnes’ blog, Nomadic Matt, seeks to help people from all walks of life travel. He does this through articles that target certain audiences through their titles, variety in the types of articles, and sections on couple’s travel and solo female travel. Overall, the Nomadic Matt blog seeks to reach a larger audience by going beyond just the experience of Matt Kepnes to help people from all different backgrounds get out and travel.
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