Business Blog Boost

I recently hosted a successful live blogging session on the topic of “What readers want from a travel blog” on my Europe a la Carte travel blog using Coveritlive software. This success was achieved from learning from the mistakes made in earlier attempts at live blogging which led me to write “7 Tips for Successful Live Blogging“.

Don’t be afraid to try new things and if they don’t work out at first be prepared to try again and build on the initial experience. It would have been easy for me to say to myself that I was never going to bother with live blogging again but thanks to some constructive criticism from an observer which I was able to take on the chin and my own observations I gave live blogging another try and it was a great success.

I believe that hosting successful live blogs can help establish you as an expert in your field. As your reputation grows you can invite other authorities in your field to be panelists on your live blog which will further enhance your standing.

• Comments (0)

You can now host live blogs on your site with free software available from Coveritlive.com. With live blogging you can interact much more quickly with your audience but you can still moderate comments.

I think it’s a great resource as it’s really easy to set up, even for a non techie person like me.  You just register and then set up the subject, date and time for your live blog and then copy the code into the blog post.

I had my first live blogging session on my travel blog today. Everything went really smoothly technically but I didn’t receive any comments which was disappointing.  However I still think it’s a great free tool to assist you in growing your reputation as an expert in your field during interactive blogging sessions.

• Comments (0)

I love the HotelsCombined affiliate scheme because it makes money for me and it’s a great resource for my site visitors enabling them to quickly and easily find a great deal on hotels through a price comparison facility.

Finding the best affiliate schemes for your site is crucial. You want to maximise revenue by using contextual links which have a high utility value to your site visitors leading to a high click through rate.

I rate the HotelsCombined affiliate scheme as excellent because:

1 I can personally endorse the site through frequent personal use.

2 It’s a useful resource to my site visitors who are going to shop around for the best deal, so why not on my site.

3 A vast array of easy to use affiliate tools.

4 You can choose which commission structure suits you.

5 One year cookie so you can earn commission for longer.

6 Good back up support.

I first used HotelsCombined as a consumer to search for the best accommodation deals for my own business and leisure stays. The site searched over 30 accommodation suppliers such as Bookings.com, Octopus, Laterooms and Venere, There’s usually a wide choice of accommodation with some real bargains, so it’s a great resource for travellers. Whenever I’m thinking about a trip, HotelsCombined is my first port of call in my quest to find the best hotel rate.

I noticed HotelsCombined had an affiliate scheme so I decided to sign up. It’s a great asset to have a hotel price comparison site on my travel site as I know that visitors are going to shop around for the best deal, so if I provide that facility on my site, visitors are more likely to stay on my site and perceive my site as a useful resource.

The affiliate tools are extensive, you can make country, city or hotel specific search boxes to add to your site or construct links to any page on the HotelsCombined site. It’s really useful as an affiliate to have such a variety of links to use contextually on your site which I believe lead to a much higher click through and purchase rate than flashing banners.

You can earn commission in two different ways. You can elect to receive a 70% of the average click through fee paid to HotelsCombined by suppliers in their database. which averages 42 cents per click. The other option is to receive commission through your direct relationship with the suppliers in which case you don’t receive any click through fee. This option isn’t yet available for all suppliers. You have to judge which commission model is most profitable for you. It’s easy to change the commission settings you just have to type in your affiliate tracking number, so you can experiment.

The other great thing about HotelsCombined is that their cookie last for one year, which could generate a fair income from frequent travellers.

I’ve contacted HotelsCombined a couple of times with queries and have received helpful replies within hours. It’s really good to have the back up of good customer service.

My only criticism is I’d like there to be the possibility of a direct relationship with all the accommodation suppliers. I’ve requested an affiliate search box which fits in the margin and was told they will look into developing one soon.

So if you’re looking for a great affiliate scheme for a travel related site I’d recommend HotelsCombined.

• Comments (3)

I’ve just started experimenting with blog carnivals on my European travel blog. Participating in Blog Carnivals is recommend by Problogger as giving you links to sites in your field, increasing traffic and being easy to do. Although I’ve vaguely heard of blog carnivals, my intention was converted to action by Darren and his Travel Blog Carnival. I’m one of the founding group of bloggers who will host the travel relate posts on their own travel blog starting in January 2008.

Madeira Carnival by Madeira

I then decided to do the carnival rounds and submitted a post on UK budget travel tips to the Travel on a Shoestring Carnival which features Europe on the first Saturday of the month. I’ve also submitted a post about my birthplace of Dundee in Scotland to the Carnival of Cities.

I’ll be hosting the Carnival of Cities on 7 January with the theme of “Off the beaten track: Cities in Europe” if you like to email a post for inclusion. If you’d like to host the Carnival of Cities you can make contact here.

If you’d like to start a new Blog Carnival on a topic related to your blog, you can start the set up on the Blog Carnival site.

I’ll report back on how successful my foray in carnivals has been in terms of promoting my blog by getting more links and more readers and in making mutually beneficial contacts with other travel bloggers.

Have you taken part in Blog Carnivals? Have you found this to be time well spent?

• Comments (0)

I’m rather puzzled because although my travel blog has 62 links showing on Technorati and a  ranking of just over 120,000, a couple of months ago I had 60 links with a ranking of 95,000.

The blogs Technorati ranking has been used to rank 200 Travel and Tourism Blogs on the T-List and the Europe a la Carte blog is standing at no 76.

Now I know this sounds rather like sour grapes but I know of several blogs who have greatly boosted their Technorati rankings by big link exchange campaigns with any inrelated blogs. Well if it works so well, why haven’t I done it?  Basically I wanted to keep my links in context.  I’d rather write good content and have natural links in related blogs.  Am I a purist fool?

• Comments (0)

I set up Google Alerts for my travel website and blog a couple of months ago and find them useful in several ways. I have alerts such as “europealacarte.co.uk”, “Karen Bryan travel europe” and “authentic travel Europe”. I went for the comprehensive search which includes news, blogs and the web and a daily update by email.

1 I can read about topics of interest to me on other sites and blogs so I keep my finger on the pulse. If you are writing posts for your blog almost every day you don’t want to get stuck in a rut. I get ideas for writing posts from the alerts. I might read an interesting news article that can trigger me to write about that subject. I might read some tips about marketing or blogging that I can utilise on my site/blogs.

2 I can make comments on related blogs as a way of building up my reputation as a European travel expert and market my blog through the link(s) on my comment.

3 I can check that publishers using my Ezinearticles are following correct procedures and adding two clickable links to my site or blog.

4 I can make new contacts with other webmasters and bloggers e.g. suggest that we exchange links, write guest posts for others blog.

5 I can keep an eye on the competition e.g. what topics other travel websites and blogs are featuring. I may avoid writing about a topic if all travel bloggers are writing about it.

The best thing is that Google Alerts are free, easy to set up and bring highly targeted, valuable information straight to your desk.

Do you use Google Alerts, if so, what do you find most useful about them?

• Comments (1)

I’ve been using Ezine Articles to promote my travel business for more than 3 years now. Ezine Articles works on a win:win scenario where you as a writer gain exposure for your business and the publisher has access to original, quality articles to use on their site, blog or email newsletter. You submit your articles and once approved by a human they are available for reproduction anywhere as long as the publisher makes no changes to the text, the source is quoted and the two links that you are allowed in your bio are clickable. It’s a good way of getting links back to your site to increase your page ranking. It can also enhance your status as an expert in you field. I’m now classed as an Platinum Expert Writer by Ezine Articles. There are various banners you can copy which link to your articles.

Recently I started submitting some posts from this blogging for your business blog to Ezinearticles recently because I know that bloggers are always looking for posts for their blogs. In the bio I have a link to this blog and a link to my travel blog. This means that I can increase my Technorati rankings for both my blogs each time an article is reproduced.

The one thing that concerns me is the lack of control over where your articles are published. I don’t know how much checking Ezine Articles do to ensure that their terms and conditions are adhered to.

I’d recommend Ezine Articles as it takes only takes a couple of minutes to submit an article, just make sure that you read the guidelines first. I think I’ve only had one article rejected but after slight adjustments it was successful on the second attempt.

Update 9/10/07

This post was picked up by the Ezine Articles Blog in their post “Ezine Articles in the Blogosphere” dated 7/10/07. I’ve had quite a few visitors coming here from the link in the Ezine Articles blog.

• Comments (4)

I’ve blogged before about using social networking sites to boost your business. I read about Sk-rt, a social networking site aimed at women today.

Now you could spend ages debating over whether there is any need/point in having a female orientated social networking site. Are there as many differences/similarities between various women as between males and females?

I had a quick look at the site and it didn’t seem over girly, which would have put me off immediately. I liked the variety of categories in which I can submit stories.  I was happy to see that there is a category for travel I can use for my travel blog as well as a category for business.  I’m going to give it a try and see how it goes.

What’s your opinion, does Sk-rt appeal to you?

• Comments (2)

My interview about my travel blog with Bloginterviewer is now online. Bloginterviewer aims to bring you an insight into the most interesting bloggers. You’re asked questions such as why you started blogging and advice for other bloggers.

It’s a great opportunity to promote your blog for free. Readers of the interview can vote for your blog either at the top of the interview or on the badge (see below) which you can copy onto your blog.

• Comments (0)