Updating and Managing Your New BGTW Profile

On March 25th, the old BGTW Connect Database was retired. It has been replaced by the new, more advanced ‘Find a Member’ search function. We wanted to launch this now rather than wait for the new website in June as this is a feature we’ve customised internally to allow us greater control.

Below, we share why we have made these changes, what they mean to you, actions you should take, and how to manage your profile. There’s also a video demonstration.

Please note: If you supplied destination expertise, specialisms, or new profile information during the audit, we have manually input this for you already. However, there are now additional options, so we advise all members to log in and update their profiles to make the most of these new features.

Important: All members should access their privacy page (https://dev.bgtw.org/account/?type=privacy) and select if they want their email and/or phone number to be visible on their profile. Until April 17th, all members’ contact details will be hidden, but after this date, your email will be visible if you haven’t opted out.

Why have we made these changes?

1. The old ‘Connect’ was limited in what it could display or include, needed you to send us the updates (delays), and wasn’t visually appealing or functional for editors or PRs looking to find relevant members.
2. The new ‘Find a Member’ replacement allows you to update and manage your profile, has space for many more inclusions, including links to your work and recent trips, and gives you a profile page on the BGTW website.
3. The new ‘Find a Member’ is much more user-friendly for editors looking to commission a writer, photographer, or other member, as they can now make a targeted search for a destination expert. Please see examples in the video above or play around with the new function here. We will promote this fact to publishers/editors in the coming months in hopes they decide to try the BGTW ‘Find a Member’ database before putting out a general callout.

What action should you take?

1. Visit https://dev.bgtw.org/account/ (you must be logged in) to update your account. Please use the ‘Privacy’ tab to select your email and phone number display settings before updating your profile.
2. In the ‘Basic Account Information’ ensure your name and details are correct. The ‘Username’ will be your profile URL. The ‘Display / Author Name’ will be the title of your profile.
3. Please enter the email address and/or phone number you wish for those searching the database to use to contact you. You can leave the phone number blank if desired. Either way, it’s best to review the ‘Privacy’ tab as the default is that your contact details are displayed.  It’s also vital that all members manage their privacy settings for their phone/email contact details BEFORE 17th April; after this date, members’ email addresses will be displayed on their profiles unless they have opted out. Even if you change the setting to ‘Yes’ now and approve their publication, be aware that it will not show on your profile until 17th April, which is the data this feature is publicly switched on.
4. In the ‘Profile Page: Job Title and About’, select your profession/s from the first box – this is a searchable field. If you are a journalist, we suggest also selecting ‘writer’ for search purposes. The ‘Preferred Job Title’ isn’t searchable, but this will be displayed under your name; you may want to add something different here, like ‘Podcaster’ or ‘Specialist in X’.
5. In the two URL boxes, please add links to your portfolio/s, blogs, podcast or YouTube etc (you can leave one or both empty) – this is not the space for links to specific published work, there is a new area for that below. Ensure you use www. or https:// for the link to be active.
6. The first two boxes in the ‘Profile Page: Searchable & Expertise Keywords’ are for listing your country/regional expertise, and also any specialisms (family travel, luxury, etc.) that you may have. You can type or use the drop-down to select these from pre-defined fields. These are searchable, so think like an editor: selecting ‘Europe’ or ‘South America’ is fine, but if they want to find a specific writer, will they search South America or Argentina? Therefore, adding both is advised. One of the key reasons we want to customise this platform in-house was so we had complete control over this – if you have any ideas for specalisms or popular non-country/regional areas (think Canary Islands or Bali, rather than cities), you can send these suggestions to us and we will review them. Of course, we can’t include every city or county on the list, so weave them into your Bio (see below) in those instances.
7. In the biography box, don’t just use keywords like the old Connect, but give information about yourself. This box is searchable, so we advise weaving in some publications you have worked with and perhaps any cities or niche areas you specialise in which aren’t covered in the previous two boxes.
8. The Recent or Upcoming Trips is a section we hope will be utilised by those searching for a member with recent or upcoming experience in a destination, perhaps as a direct alternative for last-minute call-outs. We suggest putting your base first – Sussex (Home) – and leaving it there permanently, followed by any recent or upcoming trips separated by a comma. Including when, and for how long – Sydney (Jun 2025/2 weeks) – is advisable. We purposefully put Recent and Upcoming trips together so this box doesn’t appear dated, but we suggest you review it at least annually when making your membership renewal.
9. The ‘Profile Page: Links’ was one of the most requested new features. Here, you can include up to 12 links to your recent work (be it articles or photos/videos/podcasts hosted elsewhere). To style it, please first select the bullet point icon, and then type the name of the link and outlet, for example:
   • Looking for stars in Spain – The Newspaper
     Then, highlight the text, select the small link button, add the link text, and hit the blue tick. You can see an example in the video above at 7:44. Please note that this box should only be used for inserting links to your work, and abuse will lead to your profile being deactivated. If you aren’t comfortable adding and styling these links, please email charlotte.copeman@bgtw.org a list of both the titles and publications and the links.
10. In the ‘Profile Page: Social Media Links’ section, you can add links to various social platforms, including some new additions. Please copy the full link – use www. or https:// for the link to work, not just your username. The ‘Bluesky’ link has a generic icon, so you feel free to use this for any other social media channel.
11. Ensure you press the blue ‘Update Account’ button to save all your updates.
12. Review your profile here: https://dev.bgtw.org/profile/
13. If you would like to update your profile photo or the extended photo at the bottom of the profile page, please do this directly on your profile page by clicking the small camera icon next to either image.

Any questions? Please email daniel.clarke@bgtw.org

By: Daniel James Clarke Freelance Travel Writer & Portugal Specialist