Internet Marketing for Tourism

At one of the Tourism Keys workshops that both Todd and I have delivered to over 500 tourism businesses and stakeholders, one of the questions I got was "who is reading blogs"? Good question, as operators and destinations consider this tool to build a relationship with their customer. What we do know is that blogs help in getting found by search engines, particularly if you use your keywords and hyperlinks effectively.

Here is what some of the research says on who is reading blogs....

• The American Life Project Tracking surveys conducted by Pew Internet from March 2000 to September 2005 looked at Internet activities. In that 'reading someone else's blog' was noted by 27%, long down the list with send e-mail #1 at 91% and use a search engine to find information, #2 at 90%. But I'm guessing that as people use the Internet to 'answer a specific question' or to 'research a product or service before buying' that they may indeed end up reading a blog.
• comScore Networks conducted research in the U.S. in 2005 and found that blog readers are disproportionally likely to be affluent, young and broad band enabled. They spend more time on line and spend more on line. So, those reading blogs are an attractive market for many tourism businesses.

Blogging continues to capture the imagination of readers. If you are going to blog, it is best to keep at it on a regular basis to keep your readers coming back. Refer to our section on blogs for more tips on this Internet tool.