Launching Our Website to Cover All Things Travel

Poko Traveler began as a YouTube channel in December 2020, after having been inspired by watching various travel vlogs during the pandemic, particularly in areas like New York City and Las Vegas. I loved traveling myself and would frequently take pictures and videos to share with friends and colleagues, but the thought of expanding that to a bigger audience was intriguing, especially since no one was really covering the Cleveland, OH area. My first video was a live stream in Lakewood, OH, showing off the city’s Christmas decorations while I used my new gimbal for the very first time. It was experimental and fun, and I try to learn from my mistakes over time and improve the quality of content I produce.

In February 2021, I bought the domain name for pokotraveler.com, and started working on a website logo and design for a few hours. I didn’t touch it again until last night, when I got the motivation to do it again. Selfishly, part of that reason might be that I recently surpassed the 1,000 subscriber count on YouTube, which allows me to be monetized on the platform (even if it is just pennies at its inception — I’m averaging $1 a day through my first week). But I always had the thought in my head that people don’t just search on YouTube for some of the content I produce; they’re looking on social media, and also search engines. I have been building my Twitter and Instagram followings for awhile now, but I still didn’t have a web presence. For example, when I was on my most recent layover in Denver, I was doing Google searches for recommended places to see, and then “Cherry Creek” came up in the search results. Then, I searched for “Cherry Creek,” and was gathering more information before I went to explore the area. Keeping that specific example in mind, I think I would also have a little bit of a passion to write an article at some point on Cherry Creek, where I write about the five or ten reasons why I liked the area, as well as embedding the video I filmed on the area there.

There are also certain things I’ve wanted to write about or cover over the years, but don’t necessarily have videos associated with them. For example, Cleveland State University unveiled a proposal for their future campus a few months ago, and yesterday, renderings came out for renovations to Progressive Field. There were also some ambitious plans drawn up a few months ago by Bedrock for the future area behind Tower City. I don’t expect to break news on these subject matters; blogs like NEOtrans already do a hell of a job at that. But I’d still like to touch on those things occasionally, as well as other random things: like maybe doing some “then” and “now” photo comparisons of stores of neighborhoods from the past, writing about some of the technology that I use to film my videos, or documenting tips I use when flying or using modes of transportation. One of my favorite things when I film videos is when several months later, a user who used to live in the area 10, 20, or 30+ years ago will stumble into the video and leave a comment about how much they enjoyed a trip down memory lane, as well as offering their own insight into how the neighborhood has changed or stayed the same. I value those insights and personal connections so much.

If you haven’t already, I’d encourage you to follow us on YouTube, which remains the heart and soul of Poko Traveler. I am based in Cleveland, OH, so a lot of my content will come from there. I also frequently travel to Utah and have a fair amount of content from there. I have also been to New York, Seattle, Orlando, Las Vegas, and San Diego. I can often squeeze something interesting out of anything — last month, I had a 1-hour layover in Chicago at Terminal 3, and I got so excited to find out that it was the same terminal in which the airport scenes were filmed in Home Alone 2. As soon as I exited the plane, I spent 55 of my 60 minutes producing a live stream, taking pictures, and then putting together a short video, all centered around Home Alone 2, before heading to my next gate.

This website will evolve over time as I add more content to it, so stay tuned!