Three Years Of God Save The Points: Thanks, Advice And Future…

Officially, three years ago today I wrote the first blog post on GodSaveThePoints.com. A domain I’d purchased only the night before. I was buzzing with excitement about joining the ranks of those that supplied my favorite daily reads. I don’t think the post was of any value, but three years later- we’re still here. We’ve grown considerably, we’ve had nothing but fun creating things and have a few things to say on the past, present and future- plus a few ideas for aspiring travel bloggers.

A Huge Thanks To You, And…

It’s no secret that I started this blog because I felt there was something lacking from many. Maybe just a different angle or opinion. Thank you to everyone that reads, for whatever reason they read. You have allowed me to live my dream, and some might say “the dream” and I hope to continue our journey together. I know the regular commenters, trolls and all the other daily joys and pitfalls of running a blog. All I want to do is create actionable and transparent content- every day. We never hide our enthusiasm because we love to travel. As always, the three people who are responsible for shaping this site are Gary Leff- who runs the best travel blog out there, Randy at BoardingArea- for taking me on despite my foul mouth and tirades, and my former boss and forever wonderful friend Martin Wostenholme. These people have each done something truly significant for me, Laura or the site beyond measure.

Our new layout has finally given us the confidence to write exactly what we want every day, knowing that there’s a section or place on the site for everything from a great deal, amazing way to use points or just a rant. We hope to give you more reasons to read and with each day, more things to read – for all interests.

Advice

If you’re not an aspiring travel blogger, writer or web type, you can skip this- if you wish. If you are, I wanted to take this milestone to shed some light and tips on what we’ve accomplished. We’re far from a case in point success study, but I am beyond proud that we: have millions of annual readers, have created viral mainstream news success stories, have made it this far without thinking about “the money”.

So… my first thought is to get knowledgeable- but really knowledgeable. I’m really glad you were once able to get an upgrade, or sign up for a credit card and take an awesome trip, but it does NOT make you an expert, or a person who can supply daily knowledge worth reading. Do it 50 times, year in year out- that’s a skill. You need to learn more- however you can. The thing is- the more success and readers you have, the more they want to know about more things. You better be able to answer anything- like if points are assigned based on the upgraded cabin class or the paid cabin class, or what interline agreements are. I didn’t know nearly as much as I do now, when I started, but neither did any blogger. The beauty of this is that you keep learning- if you’re smart.

For the love of all things holy- please don’t start a blog because you want to get rich. You won’t, at least not for years and years. I made a grand total of roughly zero dollars for the first year of the blog and if I tried to make more, I would’ve looked like an asshat. I never started writing posts with the intent of making money, and it’s a good thing, because until you have millions of readers- there’s really no money to be made. Do it because you have an ANGLE, a PASSION, a view of a MISSED subject or view and do it well and consistently. If you want to be the “go-to” guy in the news- be the news. Make the news, and when they come back to you for expertise, be easy to work with and useful beyond normal standards.

Future

I can’t help but smile while writing this- because we will shatter our previous monthly records for viewership, page views and other metrics this month- without any mainstream media coverage giving us a boost. The future is very exciting. As I mentioned, the new site gives us space and categories to cover all the things we love. Laura is now writing fantastic stuff to help cover our passion for the travel lifestyle, which I love reading and think you do too, judging by the numbers. If you hadn’t noticed another writer, that’s by design. One voice matters, in our opinion.

We know many of you go oodles for noodles over points stuff- but I’d travel and write every day even if points didn’t exist. We love talking about tech, apps, destinations, travel humor, cocktails, food- all things that intertwine with a love of travel. We really love deals too. The more you travel, the more you realize that elite status and perks matter. Things you don’t gain on your one off fancy flight using points. Deals help more people travel and they also help propel people to benefits which make even the cheapest flights more enjoyable. You’ll see more of all of these things, as well as some funny videos (like this one), and great Instagram content, which you can find here. Thanks for reading this. See ya’ in the skies.