Selling Travel 101: Start Your Own Travel Blog
by John Hawks

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Think of blogs as online diaries. They're simply a collection of postings (messages) that you display in one place on your Web site. These postings can discuss lots of different travel topics (e.g., "My favorite cruise ships," "What you should never do in Sardinia"), or you may choose to focus them on one particular subject.

Blogs have grown popular among online users because they combine the immediacy of email with the "permanence" of a Web site. You can post comments very easily when you want to promote a new travel deal or brag about the fam trip you've just completed, but you don't have to jump the hurdles involved with changing the overall look of your Web site.

Also, many agents who've begun using blogs have opened them to clients, allowing their travelers to post comments, too. For example, you may post an opening comment about your favorite beach resort, with an invitation for your clients to post their favorites. With most blogs, your clients simply click on a link below your posting to link to a separate Web page where they can type in and submit their own favorite beach resort comments that will be added to the blog.

Many Web hosting services today offer blogging services and software, as part of their basic packages or as an add-on feature. Basic blogging software these days is designed with a simple interface that looks like standard Microsoft or Apple programs. In other words, if you can use Word or WordPerfect, you should quickly learn the basics of creating and posting your own blog.

Another excellent resource that's free in most cases is Blogger, a blogging service that's now owned by Google. You can follow Blogger's three-step process to start a free blog for your travel business. Plus, you can use Blogger's services to get very fancy if you'd like (e.g., inserting Google AdSense links to make extra money from your site).

You'll find blogging tutorials, a glossary, and other aids too at www.blogbasics.com.