New website for tramping gear information in NZ
Hi All,
So about a month ago I built a website designed to answer newly minted trampers' questions about buying gear, what to look for, where the value was and general tips for buying different items. It still needs work, and there is a lot to be done, but most of the content I want to start with is up. So, as I want it to be as good of a resource as possible, if any of you want to have a look and leave a comment on things like: things I may have missed, places where I'm not clear, something I haven't considered, or anything that is just plain wrong, please do! As this is probably the most accessible and august body of trampers around, I thought this would be a good place to start to get some second opinions. So, check it out here: http://www.featherweighthiking.com/
Feel free to comment here or at the bottom of each page on the site.
It started its life as a word document that I wrote for work to give to clients explaining what the stuff on our gear list was. Then AUTC needed a similar thing, so I thought I might as well make a generic one, and the best way to do this was to put it on a webpage. The website has been running for a month or so now. It's by no means done, in about a week when I get out of the busy period for the year I intend to put a lot more finishing touches into it, but the gear guide content is pretty much all up there. When I have the time, I'm going to add a lot more pictures and illustrations, as well as some gear reviews and the like.
Finally, to forestall the host of people asking the question I know you're all going to ask first, why "hiking" and not "tramping", I'll pre-empt that now. Basically it only has to do with search engine optimisation. If you go onto google trends (interesting and informative in of itself), you can look up how the usage of words has been trending over time in a particular place. It turns out that people in NZ searching "tramping" has been trending down over the last ten years, and people searching "hiking" is trending up, and in next few years, it is forecast that more people will be searching hiking than tramping. So it is just a bit of future proofing, its annoying but if I want to get traction its the way I have to go.
18 comments
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Search engine optimization can be tricked by adding the words "and tramping" to the end of your title on every page but then colouring that text to match the background. Then only google will be able to read it
or people that highlight the text as they read it... I basically highlight all text I read... There are better ways to hide text then just changing the colour.
Although, many search engines can detect hidden text, then they ban pages, or give them a low priority. Best just to integrate all of your keywords into the actual content.
Yes, IMHO the best way to attract visitors these days is to simply provide content they actually want to find. Search engines are increasingly sophisticated at digging this up, and they're also good at figuring out when a site's trying to confuse them.
Web designers already have built in ways to discreetly suggest word associations for search engines to consider. Even without that it's likely that Google already knows, from analysing screeds of content, that terms like 'tramping' and 'hiking' are closely connected when there's already an association with NZ.
oops wrong thread
True. Look at the ads that used to display here (actualy dont they were horid) for hiking singles?
Best way to get google to disply something is to get a link somewhere elese ie the first post
"Personally, I think carrying an excessive amount of gear can be dangerous in of itself, as people will tire more quickly, which means they will be more likely to make mistakes, and more likely to trip; being heavier also means one is more likely to injure oneself if one does fall. "
I agree and believe I've seen this happen time and time again.
going lightweight successfully depends. you should have enough gear with you to keep yourself alive for the weather conditions if you become immobilized, if you don't have enough clothing and shelter to stop hypothermia then you have an issue.
I appreciate with alpine climbing you are so exposed to bad weather its hard to carry enough gear and being slowed down then makes it potentially a bigger risk than being able to go light and fast and being able to get out of the bad weather before it gets too bad. its a balancing act.
there are cases of some ultralight people who aren't even equipped for bad weather, they cant get out of their shelter in wintry weather or if they do, they would get hypothermic because they have so few clothes with them. then they are loosing time because of their lack of gear if they have to wait out the bad weather... nz weather isn't as stable in summer as some places in the world. some places people more often than not can get away with minimal clothing and gear in summer that you couldn't get away with for as long in NZ.
So about Donald Duck's website. It does help but other than the big ticket items and then even then. You could mention checking out op shops. Our first tent was a 2person A-frame that we could use our poles with and cost us a total of 7 dollars and weighed 1 kilo. Most of our clothes except thermals also come from op shops. Merino wool base layer 6 dollars is awesome compared to even the biggest sales. For newbies your mention of finding a knowledgeable store person is great. Especially for packs and boots.
I am a self-confessed UL backpacker. If I can shave weight without risking life and limb I will do it. My empty 50L weighs 1Kilo so you get my base of reference. I would mention in your site that right fit is more important than the weight of the pack. A pack that distributes the weight properly will feel way more comfortable than one that does not. Also there are several good 60+liter packs that weigh 2kilos.
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| Started by | DonaldDuck |
| On | 7 November 2015 |
| Replies | 17 |
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