Since the best way to learn is through real life examples, I’m going to start a series of blog posts reviewing hotel websites and blogs. (Inspired by Copyblogger’s brilliant Landing Page Makeover Clinic)

Every couple weeks for the next few months, I’ll deconstruct a different hotel website, pointing out changes that could be made to improve effectiveness.

A couple ground rules to ensure fairness & equality:

• To avoid bias, I won’t review any clients’ websites
• I won’t talk with – or get approval from – the website or hotel owner before publishing (to avoid them influencing my analysis)
• I won’t take any money for the reviews (of course)
• All reviews will clearly contain what I like and what I don’t like: nothing will be “sugar-coated”
• I’ll select websites from a wide variety of hotel types – to reflect the diversity of people that read this blog

For a chance to have your hotel reviewed for free, send me with the URL. I cannot guarantee that I’ll review it, but would rather review a loyal reader’s site than someone who isn’t aware of this blog yet.

Okay, that’s probably one of the worst headlines I’ve written.

I’ve decided to reduce my minimum posting frequency from 5 times per week (daily) to 3 days per week…and it’s NOT because I’ve run out of things to say. (I actually have a list of several hundred posts I plan to write, and that list grows faster than I can use it.)

Why I am doing this:

* The #1 reason people unsubscribe from a blog is too many posts. HotelChatter posts some interesting stuff, but the frequency & volume has made me unsubscribe/resubscribe several times….and I often find myself just ignoring new items in my feed reader.

* Forcing quantity can reduce quality (who me?!). Put another way, this should allow me to produce more useful content for you.

* More meaningful conversation takes place with less volume. I’ve found that when a post can sit on the homepage for a day or two, much better discussion happens. People have some time to think about it, and share interesting thoughts with each other. I like that.

Actually, Write to Done has said it better than I ever could with 7 Reasons Posting Less Frequently can Increase Your Blog’s Popularity.

Not many hotel bloggers I know have trouble with too many posts, but it’s something to think about. The important thing about blogging is making sure you have your own regular posting routine. Even if it’s just twice a month, it’s very helpful to use a schedule that keeps you accountable.

Of course, if there is a breaking news story or I find something I need to pass along immediately, I’ll do that. My point here is that I hope to increase this blog’s value through a lower minimum posting schedule.

As I alluded to earlier, Emma Johnson interviewed me for a piece on crowdsourcing she wrote for Entrepreneur.

An excerpt:

Nearly every retailer and service provider has an internet presence whether they promote a website or not, thanks to the ballooning popularity of sites like Yelp, Citysearch, TripAdvisor, and Angie’s List where customers rate and comment on businesses. If you don’t harness these sites, they’ll lasso you instead, says Josiah Mackenzie, managing director of the San Francisco-based marketing firm Gradigio, which advises its hospitality clients on how to make the most of this seemingly unwieldy force.

“Companies don’t have a choice whether or not to be involved in crowdsourcing,” Mackenzie says. “People are going to be talking about them and creating content about their firms–whether they like it or not.”

You can read the whole article here: Crowdsourcing: Free Problem-Solving for Your Biz

See also:

• Can hotels use crowdsourcing?
• Crowdsourcing example: bmi uses Flickr photos in web design

In order to make this blog even more interactive, I’ve added a new rating feature at the end of each article. For each post you read, please take a second to rate how good you think it is.

As Alicia and I see your feedback, we’ll be able to make adjustments and serve you increasingly better content.

Thanks!

P.S. If you want to use this on your own blog, you can download the WordPress plugin.

Photo by Rene Ehrhardt

Thanks to Phil Caines, I’ll be attending The PhoCusWright Bloggers Summit at ITB Berlin March 11-12. From looking at the program, you’ll see this is a great opportunity to interact and learn with other like-minded travel professionals.

If you’re a blogger, click the button below to submit your application.

Later, I’ll be representing Gradigio at the main conference. Let me know if you’ll be attending, and we can meet up.  See you there!

To help you promote your hotel, we’re now offering free hotel marketing consulting through a dedicated Twitter channel.  Send us your questions, and we’ll give you advice in 140 characters or less.

Try it: @hmarketinghelp

I’m excited to welcome Alicia Sheber to the Hotel Marketing Strategies blog as a contributing author. Alicia brings a wealth of cross-cultural experience as a marketing consultant to hotels around the world. Her past projects have included online brand positioning for hotels in London and Paris, design projects throughout Europe, and contributions to several guidebooks. Alicia holds an MBA in International Marketing from École Supérieure Libre des Sciences Commerciales Appliquées in Paris.

I know you’ll enjoy reading her insights in the days ahead, as we work together to bring you the latest hotel marketing ideas.

Josiah,

I added your site to http://hotels.alltop.com/

Thanks,
Guy Kawasaki

Alltop is an “online magazine rack” that aggregates the top blogs and news stories. Check out their new hotel section, or any of the other categories they have.

To help you receive all the latest hotel marketing ideas from this blog, there are now two convenient ways to read updates.

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There is a bunch of new content coming up, so I wanted you to be able to receive it as it’s published.

Welcome to the future home of the Hotel Marketing Strategies blog. Updates will be coming soon.