1. Add a Feedburner Subscription Box.  Make it easy for your readers to subscribe to your posts by email.  Over time, you subscriber list will grow.  Think of your blog as an ongoing E-newsletter. Burn the feed for your blog at  Feedburner.google.com and monitor your blog stats.  Use the free widget to publicize your blog with an email subscription form.

2. Make your blog searchable.  Having a Search Box on your blog makes it easier for folks to find content that you may have written about in the past. Search on my blog is also useful to me. I use search when writing my blog to quickly find and link to relevant articles I’ve written in the past.

3. Add a Facebook Fan Box.  Alright, I know this blog doesn’t have a Facebook Fan box, but that’s because I don’t have a Facebook Fan Page.  Most Tourism businesses and regions are different in this regard – AT LEAST THEY SHOULD BE.  If you don’t have a Facebook Fan Page stop reading this post and build a Fan Page.  Read this post on the number of Canadians who use Facebook with some great charts showing how popular Facebook is these days in Canada!   Then check out this post and add a Facebook Fan Box to your Blog (updated).

4. Make your blog social by adding a Google Friend Connect Box that encourages your fans to connect with a Google, Yahoo! or Twitter.  I also recommend TwitterCounter.com Widget that is pretty nifty way of connecting your Twitter Community.  It shows the Twitter folks who have recently visited.

5. Add a Disqus Commenting System.  The heart and soul of any blog is the conversation that takes place with readers. Disqus Commenting System is a fav because it makes it easy for readers to comment with whatever social profile they prefer.  It also allows Guest Commenting.

6. Allow Guest Commenting.  OK, I admit it, this one is a pet peave.  I often come across blog posts that get me excited about commenting and they limit commenting to members!  PLEASE make it easier to comment by using a comment management tool and permit guest comments.  Comment spam takes a bit of time, but its a sacrifice your readers want you to make.

7. Visit your Blog Guests. Your readers often have an online life too! Follow them on twitter, visit their facebook pages, read their blogs and comment on their Web sites.  It’s just good karma and will help you grow of a wider community of fans and friends.  One of the reasons I enjoy Twitter and FriendConnect widgets is it  makes it easy to click over and see what my visitors up to.

8. Draft a new About Page. This is really high on my list of things to do for our tourism Web site as well as my blog.  What better time to consider what makes your blog tick than the turning of a new year.  Start by taking a few moments to answer three important questions.

1. Who are you writing for?  Think about who your readers are, what interests them and why they might subscribe to your blog.
2. What topics do care about? What kind of writing or multimedia content do you focus on?
3. What makes you tick? What gets you excited?

9. Make it easy to contact you.  Determine an action you want your readers to take if they want to connect, then provide the contact points that you want folks to use.  For most tourism industry folk providing access to your email address and phone number are critical, but consider also providing links to your Google Profile and other social networking profiles if you want folks to connect with you there.  If you have a Google account, you may also want to add a simple Google Docs Web form to collect incoming requests for more information.

10. Feature Guests and Link to Others.  If you see something that you think your readers would be interested in, link to it.  If you see someone doing something interesting in your community, quote them or invite them to join you for an audio podcast.  Writing about or featuring others on your blog can expand your audience by appealing to the audience members of your featured guests.  One of my favourite things to do is record Skype conversations with Audio Hijack Pro and post them on my blog.

Supercharge your blog in 2010

Choose one of these ideas that is new for you and spend a bit of time this week adding it to your blog.  Your fans and readers will thank you for it.

Got any ideas to add?  What are you doing to supercharge your blog in 2010?

In less than a day you can have a great mobile-ready Website that delivers all the content you need to satisfy the needs of your iPhone and other smartphone carrying guests before, during and after their visit to your region.

Why ensure your content looks good on a handheld?

• 60% of the world’s population have a cell phone. (3.1 Billion cell phone contracts)
• Cell phone users replace their phones every 18 months; the vast majority of new phones are smartphones.
• 91% of cell phone users have their phone within arms reach 24/7; providing users with impulse access to Web content during the “in-between moments” in a day.
• listen to podcast episode with Hilton VP on the explosive growth in handheld sales for the hotel chain.

WordPress.com blogs are automatically optimized for iPhone and Google Android phones; another reason why it’s time you started blogging with WordPress.

Make your WordPress blog a fully functioning  iPhone-ready and Android phone-ready Website without worrying at all about being a code monkey.

Create an account at WordPress.com and add a blog.  Treat your blogsite as a free iPhone-ready and Android-ready Web site.  Both phones use the Webkit engine that powers Safari Web browsers and these phones will co-rule the handheld landscape along with Blackberry.  Soon Blackberry is expected to join the Webkit/Safari browser handheld crowd too.

Get your mobile site started with the right content on a WordPress blog

Choose a Theme and Banner

It doesn’t matter what theme you choose, just pick one that has space for a banner image.

Banner Image: In the theme settings for your blog choose a banner image.  Give your Blog your Business Name as it’s title and include your main phone number in the Tagline setting on the General Settings tab for your blog.  Remember viewers may be looking at your site on their phone. Your phone number will automatically be a link, allowing your iPhone/Android site user to click the number to dial you with their phone!

Create Permanent Pages you think handheld device users and blog readers will appreciate:

• About us:  Include Contact Info.
• Check Availability: Consider using a page with a Google Webform.
• Link to your TripAdvisor page:  Encourage guests to write a review from the road when they check out.
• Map: Embed a Google Map on this page. (iPhone users can click on the map to link out of the blog to iPhone Maps app)
• Seasonal Rates: iPhone or handheld specials?
• FAQ’s:  Include things to do en route
• Media: On iPhone, Audio Podcasts can play in iTunes app, Youtube Videos open in the Youtube app and photo libraries on Flickr or Picasaweb can open in their handheld media format.  Be sure to link to your favourite picture folder on Flickr.com or Picasaweb.com

Flickr Photo Page looks great on iPhone:

Turn on the Mobile Theme for your WordPress Blog

By default, the mobile version of your site is on, but check just to make sure.

On the Appearance tab click on Extras.

On the Extras page, Display a mobile theme box should be checked.

What happens now?

When viewing your WordPress.com blog on iPhone or Google Android device your new WordPress blog site automatically renders beautifully with WPtouch theme by BraveNewCode. W0rdpress.org (self-hosted blog) users can choose from a few plug-ins to render your site for iPhone (WPTouch among them).  A nice feature of WPtouch is that users can choose to turn it off and access the full version of your website simply by switching the mobile on/off switch at the bottom of each page.

Publicize your iPhone Page

As with the regular WordPress view of your blog, the site home page of your site shows the most recent posts first.  The permanent pages-list at http://YourURL.wordpress.com/?pages-list is a great page to link to from your existing Web site as the iPhone or mobile version of your Web site.   Consider treating this pages-list page as your mobile home page.

Ask your guests to bookmark the iPhone blog version of your Website on their iPhone.

Pages list view of your blog on iPhone:

The Drop Down list in the upper right corner of the iPhone site brings up:

• a search box,
• home page
• links to permanent pages,
• post archives.

Special Pages for YOUR Ideal Guests:

No one knows the needs of your guest better than you (except your guests themselves).  Create pages you know your ideal guest will appreciate. Imagine for instance that bus tours are a key market segment for you. Consider a page dedicated to the guests traveling on the bus. Give the link to travel trade and have them include it in literature to your bus-traveling mobile phone toting guest so that they can view your content en route.

Get Blogging!

There you have it: A free iPhone-ready, Android-ready version of your Website; another great reason to have a free WordPress.com blog for your tourism business.

Links

• Screenshots taken from Todd Whyte’s blog at Ocean View Hotel in Rocky Harbour, NL, Canada.
• Mashable’s Guide to Mobile Design
• Smashing Magazines’s Mobile Design Showcase

Get Greater impact from Twitter on your Website Search Ranking:

Perhaps the biggest benefit of the recently announced Google / Twitter deal is that Google can now see all those links that are tweeted.

Links have always been the secret sauce for getting your Website to rise above others to the first page – or even the top of the first page of the search results. The image above says it all.

Turn your Website into a Blog to get the most of Twitter

GET BLOGGING! No matter what business you are in. Produce real time content that your community will love. The more you do it, the more you will benefit.

Here’s Why:

• Each Tweet is a Web page on a Website with high authority granted by Google – Twitter.com
• Using Twitter, people are helping Google rank Webpages in real time by linking to them.
• If your content is good, Retweeted links will produce more incoming links to your content.
• Links in Tweets can point to Webpages of all kinds but most tweeted links go to Blog posts.
• Tweets are generally about real time, current news and content. What is more tweet-worthy (if it’s not a word it should be – get with it spell checker): a Website that is updated seasonally or a Blog that is updated daily?
• Tweeted links may have higher time-sensitive value that degrades over time.
• Your Website is not likely to generate much interest if you tweet about it constantly.
• Blogs are platforms for producing link-worthy content frequently.

Conclusions: How Twitter can improve your Website Search Ranking

Blog posts that provide value to your twitter community by featuring news, podcasts, video, photos, stories can earn you considerably more link juice and lead to increased position in the Google Search results.

Links:

• Twitter and Google Partnership
• Using Social Media is a lot like flossing
• How to get any kind of media into your WordPress Blog
• Does your Website still look like it did in December 2008?

A Great Template for Designing a Web page

Click on the image to download the pdf version.

There are easy and free ways to add all kinds of media to your WordPress.com blog. This post explains how to add photos, video, audio, text and mixed media documents to your blog.

Photos: WordPress.com makes it easy to upload and host images using the Upload/Insert photo button on the admin panel. These photos are hosted online at wordpress.com. I also edit and host images at Skitch.com (mac only) and Drop.io.

WordPress.com does not host media types other than photos for free.

Hosting other forms of media on a WordPress.com blog requires users to set up free accounts using other Web services prior to embedding the content on your blog. The easiest way to embed a slideshow in your blog is to use a powerpoint embedded photo slide show as shown below with Slideshare.

Video: Upload your video to a variety of Video hosting sites using Tubemogul, a ‘multi-site upload service” – to free video hosting sites like youtube.com, blip.tv, veoh.com and others. Try a few embedded viewers. Each looks a little different. Then copy and paste the WordPress embed code from blip.tv or just copy the url from any Youtube video and you are set.

Audio: The best and easiest option to get your audio into your blogsite is to upload the audio mp3 to a free hosting site Archive.org. See this (more recent) blog post for the simple and pretty way to add audio to your wordpress blog. Funny enough, embedding plain mp3 files is the one thing that is not simple to embed (at least not for free). If you do have access to uploading mp3 files by ftp, then it is simple to embed audio. Most online file hosting services require flash or java script (which wordpress.com doesn’t allow for security reasons). A less preferred option is setting up a free account at Drop.io to set up links like this – Coffee which open your audio file in a new window.

Also, for a small fee (from $20/year – that’s less than $2/month!), WordPress.com users who want to feel the freedom and excitement that goes with creating audio and setting up a podcast feed to get your audio into iTunes can pay a small annual space upgrade fee which enables simple uploading of mp3 files and playing the files on your WordPress.com page. Hey, the blog is basically free, so what’s a couple of bucks a year for audio right?

WordPress Audio Widget:

PDF’s and Word Documents: Embed these types of documents into your blog with a free service like Scribd.com or link to an online version of your documents at DocStoc. Scribd provides WordPress.com embed code that shows your document in a window within your post. Documents can also be shared via hyperlink to the URL of your document at both sites. (Note: on Scribd, embedded WordPress.com documents include small Google adwords text ads following each page.)

Embedded pdf’s look like this:
Obama Inaugural Guidebook

Multimedia: All the media you could ever wish to post to your Worpress Blog:

Some folks may want to embed powerpoint presentations or other multimedia content designed using Web 2.0 services. Here are a few free multimedia services that provide WordPress.com embed code.

Slideshare.net is a powerpoint hosting site that makes it easy to embed slide shows in your blog. Just copy and paste the embed code into the HTML tab. Slide shows can be advanced with the click of the viewers mouse. Try a powerpoint slide show with your best images.

Animoto – make a multimedia slide show with your photos and music or choose from a selection of music tracks to make a free 30 second video. Then upload to your WordPress blogsite directly from Animoto. RockYou provides a similar service. Pictures that move and have music could be a powerful treat for your blogsite fans.

Google.com/Maps – Put a google map into your blog or make your own map with Google’s My Map tool. Unfortunately, I’ve not found the embed in Website url to work with WordPress.com although the directions on adding a google map to your worpress.com blogsite seem pretty clear. The method of getting a map on your blog described below takes a bit of work. But remember, if your ideal guest doesn’t know that you are easy to get to, they are not coming. If the directions on adding a google map as shown on WordPress.com/support, you’ll need to take a screenshot of the map and upload the map as a photo (described above).
On a Mac, you can take a screenshot using shortcuts in your System Preferences / Keyboard Shortcuts settings.

On a Windows PC, design a map that meets your needs. Then with your map in your browser window press the [Alt] + [Prt Screen key] to copy the current window.

Paste the screen grab into an image editing document and crop the screenshot to the desired image.

Back on the Google Map, copy the link or embed code to the original map at Google, and put this link on your site with your screen grab image to link out to the Google Map you want your visitor to see.

The final version of your custom MyMap can include images, icons, hyperlinks and more. The finished map could look something like this:

See the map at google.

The map at the other end of this link includes a Get Directions to here link, which gives turn by turn driving directions to your location! That makes you easy to get to.

Do you use other online multimedia services that provide embed code? Tell us about them

external links:

• WordPress Support
• NEW! WordPress.tv (get the scoop from wordcamps and enjoy a visual resource for all things WordPress)
• How to create Flickr slide shows
• How to embed almost anything
• 50 WordPress.org multimedia plug-ins

Social Media tools including Twitter have made it easier than ever to create a community of shared interest. I was delighted to learn about http://www.travelblogexchange.com in recent tweets from Travel Bloggers I follow, including a gentle reminder from @soultravelers3.

Ning, the make your own social networking tool that makes it super easy to create a social network is the platform of choice for quickly creating a network like this.

It only took a few minutes to join and I added a couple of groups to http://www.travelblogexchange.com – the Tourism Industry Bloggers and Community Blogs Groups.

The site debuted as an opportunity to connect those attending the Travel Blog Exchange as part of the Blogher summit in Chicago, July 26, 2009.

I believe, this community blogger site will have great impact.

This is the first time I’ve seen an opportunity to invite people like the readers of this blog who have blogs to meet and share ideas with other travel industry bloggers and communities that have embraced Web 2.0 opportunities.

Please join the travel bloggers social and get some attention for your blog!

Why you should ditch your traditional Website in 2009:

• traditional Web sites are business cards or billboards – depending on how much you want to spend for design.
• the Internet is about conversations and communication, not broadcasting your message.
• content (words, photos, video, audio) matters much more than design.
• your brand is what you are doing now – today! not what you were doing when your Web site was designed.
• tourism businesses should not have to depend on a third party: adding, editing content should be as easy as sending email and creating and sharing multimedia should be fun and simple.
• a blog is a Website – the most popular Websites in the world are blogs.
• instead of investing money in a Website redisign in ’09, invest time in creating content that matters for your blog.

Five years ago I started spending quite a bit of time traveling and teaching tourism businesses and regional marketing organizations about customer relationship management and what makes a great Website. We spent quite a bit of time learning about the basics:

• headlines
• great images
• calls to action
• credibility
• e-newsletters
• . . . and lots of other important stuff.

The problem with the early Tourism Keys workshops was that most people could not make the changes to their Web sites themselves.

Over the past few years we’ve been focusing more on things beyond your Web site – outposts if you like, Web 2.0 services that make it easy for businesses and their guests to share photos, videos and stories:

• blogs
• photo libraries like flickr and picasaweb.
• social networks
• maps
• podcast
• video sites like Youtube and the like
• . . . and a whole lot more free ways to get your info in front of your ideal guest

With a good blog you can embed all the outpost content you want and give life to your Web presence by focusing on what’s new and exciting about your travel experiences or tourism region.

The centre of your Web presence has shifted

One of the ideas I’ve shared often is that your Web site can sit at the centre of all these free marketing tools and tactics. In 2009 I’m telling folk that the days of traditional Web sites are over!

“A traditional Web site is just a dated online business card for your tourism business.”

In 2009, an active blog Website , at the centre of your Web presence says that you are ready to have an engaging conversation with your ideal guest today. As such, your blog needs to become the centre of your online Web presence, and that means it’s time to prioritize your marketing efforts in the new year.

New Years Blogging Resolutions for 2009

Consider one or more of these New Years Resolutions to make the most of your blog Website as the centre of your Internet Marketing Strategy.

Design Pages on your blog – create a permanent page menu structure that ensures blog readers have one click menu access to the most important content from your existing Web site. What is the most important content on your existing Web site? What does your ideal guest really need to know?

Schedule regular blog posts – Whether it’s daily, weekly, or something in between, make a commitment to sharing news and updating your blog as often as possible on a regular schedule.

Create and Share Multimedia – Add sound, video or both to your blog. At a minimum, create a slide show with photos and a soundtrack that inspires (Animoto makes this easy to cut and paste embed code). Embed video from Youtube. Blip.tv or other video sharing sites or start a monthly podcast for your tourism business or region – you can do it right on your blog!

Promote your Blog – Be sure to link from your existing Web site telling folks that your blog hosts the most current info! Tell folks on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and other sites where you post content, that your blog is a happening place.

Encourage subscriptions - A few hundred people get this blog in their email using the free services from Feedburner.com. Others subscribe in a reader or get updates on new posts in Twitter. A good blog can replace your e-newsletter for some tourism businesses.

Encourage Comments - Comment spam used to be a problem. Today, most blogging platforms have easy to use tools that automatically block spam. Encourage your readers to comment on your posts, share their stories, and engage in conversation with you. With today’s technology, people can even comment with video. Got a Web cam? Leave a video comment below with Seesmic.

The Upshot

With a good blog, you’ll not have to spend time worrying about Search Engine Optimization (or getting found by search engines), you’ll generate buzzworthy attention from folks who appreciate your commitment to fresh content. Your blog stories will more accurately define your brand and bring focus to how you meet your ideal clients’ needs, and you’ll enjoy creating content for your Web site as a way to express the true essence of your business.

What are you waiting for? It’s almost 2009. Make your blog the centre of your Web presence.

Important Note: Your existing Web site is probably generating useful Web traffic from existing links and search engine placement. Do not delete your old Web site. If you are abandoning your existing site, use a 301 Redirect to send existing traffic to pages on your new blog site. 

Questions? Comments? Ideas? Join the conversation.

PS.  If you want to have a bit of fun with the virtual destruction of your Web site like on the image on this page visit. NetDisaster.com

Beginner-friendly step-by-step instructions for hosting and using a wordpress.com blog at your www.mywebsite.com

• Book 1: Get your Own .com
  
• Book 2: How to Use WordPress

I’ve met thousands of tourism operators and tourism board representatives over the past five years helping them sort out their Internet marketing strategy. For most tourism businesses, the best web site is a blog because it’s current, relevant, keyword-friendly, and easy to manage. These free pdf documents provide step-by-step instructions for using WordPress.com to create your own website from scratch. Have your own wordpress website and change or add content any time, for just $12 / year. These concise helpful books provide screen shots that show you where to click and what to do, every step of the way.

Benefits of Hosting your own WordPress Blog on www.yourwebsite.com

• you own your domain name (ie. www.mywebsite.com)
• easily controlled content management system with wordpress.com
• instead of the generic http://wordpress.com/mywebsite send folks directly to www.mywebsite.com.
• Start from scratch by searching for a domain name that you want, register it with wordpress.com and map it to www.mywebsite.com.
• Begin creating new permanent web pages for your site and create new posts featuring text, photos, and video within an hour!
• Do you twitter? Ask @sparklestarr or @toddlesby about how hosting a wordpress website workshop for beginners can help spur economic development in your community.

Get your own .com and How to Use WordPress by Natalie Lucier are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.tourismkeys.ca.