www.yangshuo-insider.com

This winter I was offered an opportunity to collaborate with a local hotel owner in Yangshuo, China on the development of a travel guide for the area. The aim was to produce something that could later be developed into an agency offering tours and other services to tourists. While there are a couple of other sites already doing this for Yangshuo we both felt that they were either outdated and the content was no longer current. Or that the content was aimed specifically at promoting the website owner.  The aim with Yangshuo Insider was to generate a new brand with no allegiances that could in time develop into a stand alone business.

One of the main activities I undertook was sifting through a ton of information on activities available in the area. As I have been visiting Yangshuo for around five years I have a reasonable amount of local knowledge. However all of this needed to be formatted into a common layout and placed with appropriate images. Consequently I spent most of the allotted project time just managing and preparing information. On the technical side I did implement a method for allowing guests to post to the blog in a way that limited their access to the WP back room and also allowed for their comments to be moderated. Future plans include adding video to the site and I am looking forward to the possibility of a further invitation to work on the project this summer.