I’ve wanted to re-design this blog for a very long time, and now its finally live! My friend David did a great job with the design, and I wanted to point out the marketing strategy that went into the layout.

“One Big Thing” on the homepage

Traditional blog layouts – with the newest post on top – can lack focus. There is no “One Big Thing” for a first-time visitor to click. With the new layout, I prominently feature one important post at the top of the homepage.

Quickly display new & best content

I wanted to adopt a magazine-style homepage for two reasons: 1) to quickly show what has been recently published, 2) to display some of the site’s most important content (we’re calling this “HMS 101″).

Encourage email signup

I’ve been talking a lot about email the past few weeks, so by now you should see why I want everyone reading this blog to receive my weekly email summary. Because of this, I’m making the email signup box a prominent part of the sidebar.  I have exclusive VIP content planned for email subscribers, and want as many people as possible to get in on this.

Encouraging participation

I really want to open up the content here to other voices and viewpoints. While I’ve tried to encourage this in the past, I’m making the options for participating very clear in the sidebar design.

Integrating video

Video will play an increasingly important role in the future, and it’s something I want to do a lot more of in coming posts. Our new YouTube channel will be a mix of me talking into the camera, live interviews, and how-to screen captures. Again, I wanted the design to reflect this new priority.

Improved comment area

Blog communities revolve around the comments section. Typically only a small percentage of readers post a comment, so I wanted to improve the comment area to encourage more discussion. The big things we added are threaded comments (so you can reply to others), and comment subscription (so you can be notified when someone replies to you).

Focus on new “Insider’s Circle” program

This is something I’m very excited about: a toolbox for hotel marketers. It contains everything my colleagues and I use for the day-to-day management of hotel marketing campaigns out in the “real world.” So it’s more than theory and strategy – it’s very practical use-it-now stuff.  The “Insiders’ Circle” is opening to the public on Tuesday, and I’ll post an explanation then…

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I would love your feedback on this new design: What do you think? Do you see any little improvements I can make on it?

Adding an email delivery option to your blog could significantly increase your number of regular readers.

This chart shows my daily blog traffic over the past few weeks. Traffic spikes each Monday, when my weekly email summary goes out:

Could you try something like this for your blog?

It doesn’t have to be time consuming. I use MailChimp to automatically package my posts in a one-email-per week format. (I tried Feedburner, but felt daily updates would be too overwhelming…)

Blogging is the fastest growing corporate communications tool today. It’s moved beyond a cool fad into a genuinely useful publishing platform.

You may not have guessed that, but starting a blog can help your hotel accomplish two important things at once: engaging fans and increasing search rankings. It’s one of the first things I recommend to people who are serious about succeeding online.

I consider blogs as the foundation of any good internet marketing campaign. It acts as a “hub” for distributing content to other networks. It’s especially powerful at the center of a social media program.

Ultimately, we have to remember no one really cares about the blog author. They care about the content they receive. If you want to succeed, have your blog focus on solutions.

Smart organizations are involving a wide range of employees in the blogging process. This helps share knowledge and perspectives from different points in your hotel. More content and more pages means it will be more likely for browsers to land on your blog.

The majority of blog traffic is usually from first-time visitors. First-time readers are a gift from heaven: you have the chance to establish a long-term relationship with them. With this in mind, treat every page on your blog like a landing page. Offer ways to begin and nurture that relationship.

And if you’re ever doubting the value of blogging, calculate what the number of organic clicks would have cost you from PPC or advertising. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised.

For more hotel blogging tips, visit BlogForGuests.com. My guide – Blogging for Guests – is still available for free download.

Mike Taylor, Public Relations manager at Fairmont Hotels asks these questions when evaluating blog marketing opportunities:

1. What is the goal of your blog?
2. Who are the readers?
3. What type of audience do you have?
4. What are the metrics (page views, unique visits) [But it's not always about the numbers - a passionate reader base can be valuable]
5. What types of links & relationships do they have?
6. What sets your blog apart? (Do you use video? Photo blog?)
7. What value proposition are you giving us? (delivering the goods)
8. What is your distribution strategy to promote your content? (Email, Twitter, Facebook?)

He focuses less on group press trips, and focuses on individuals now. Fairmont is becoming more proactive in reaching out to potential blogging partners.

According to research conducted by Hubspot, organizations that blog get:

• 97% more inbound links to their website (improving search rankings)
• 55% more website visitors

Are you blogging yet?

Some of the best learning comes from observing how other people do things. For a recent project, I wanted to look at other hotel blogs, but realized there is no complete list of hotels that blog. That’s why I put together this list of over 150 hotels that blog:

Hotel Blog Mega-List on BlogforGuests

Enjoy!

Over the past few months, I’ve been collaborating with professional blog developer Adam Malseed to create blog marketing training resources for hotels and hospitality companies. Today, we’re happy to announce the release of our free e-book:

Download Blogging for Guests

In this 20 page guide, you’ll learn why blogs are essential for marketing today, and how they can increase your profits.

This week, I’m going to be blogging from blogforguests.com: sharing exclusive interviews and tips on how you can use blog marketing effectively. And then on Friday, we’re releasing another free resource that is getting some finishing touches right now.

So, I invite you to visit blogforguests.com during this week as I blog over there. Regular posting will resume again here shortly.

Twitter can be a powerful promotional tool for your blog or website, but it also makes a great supplement.

Twitter adds personality to your brand

Many top blogs are becoming like online magazines. Staffed by full-time professional writers, there is a tendency to become overly factual.

But through a Twitter account, many corporate bloggers feel more free to be themselves and lighten up a bit. By bringing these two tools together, you can provide both informative content and a little personality behind it.

Twitter helps you get to know your readers

Blog discussions in the comment section can serve the same function, but I find them to be less spontaneous than the back-and-forth nature of Twitter. For any blogger, it’s important to build relationships with your readers, and regular communication is the way to do that.

Twitter expands your network

I’ve probably met more new people through Twitter than any other social networking tool. Whether it’s another blogger or a business you wanted to find, Twitter can help open doors and establish connections.

Twitter is an idea goldmine

If you follow the right people, just watching the tweets stream by for a few minutes can give you lots of fresh ideas and interesting links. I use TweetDeck to carefully monitor a select group of people’s tweets, and usually check in a few times each day.

Additionally, you can get a lot of very good ideas by asking questions to your followers. Whether you just want a second opinion on your logo design, or need to do a more in-depth survey, it’s a very convenient to have real time feedback.

Twitter is also a great research tool

Twitter is a recorded stream of consciousness of the web. Entering keywords into search.twitter.com helps you measure the pulse of what people are thinking.

Twitter is the preferred subscription method for some

Some people would rather receive your blog updates on Twitter than through RSS or email. Whether the motive is accessibility or security, cross-promoting blog updates on Twitter is a good idea for these people.

Let me ask you: Does Twitter help you as a blogger? Drop by my shiny new Twitter page and let me know.

One year ago, I published my first article here: Why You Need a Web Presence.

A lot has happened since then, and the growth has pleasantly surprised me. My readership has increased between 50-70% each of the past 6 months, and that figure is accelerating. More importantly, I’ve met some brilliant people and learned more than I ever could have without blogging.

I’m very grateful to each of you who read my articles, leave a comment, and send a tweet or email: it’s great learning with you. As a way of giving back, I wanted to share some lessons I’m seeing from this experience.

1) Listen to, and write for, individual people

In the first couple months of this blog’s existence, I actively solicited input from potential readers. I literally sat down with hotel owners and marketing professionals, and asked which topics they wanted to know about. The feedback I gathered in person, on the phone, and by email has added a lot of clarity and direction to my writing process.

Each time I sit down to write an article, I’m writing with specific people in mind.

2) Know why you’re blogging

Whether you’re trying to spread ideas or sell a room, this affects everything from the content and style of your posts to your marketing and distribution tactics.

My mission is to empower hotels with the latest internet marketing tactics, so they can book more rooms and serve their guests better. This gives me focus in everything I do.

3) Plan for search optimization from the start

More than half of my readers each day come directly from a Google search.

One of the reasons I named my blog Hotel Marketing Strategies was for the keywords. I wanted to be #1 on Google for that term, and was able to accomplish it fairly quickly. After that happened, I set my sights higher – to be the top results on Google for Hotel Marketing Blog. That too, I achieved.

Now, I’m the #2 website for the ultra-competitive Hotel Marketing keyword – competing with firms with millions in revenue that specifically target that phrase.

4) Blog design is important

I made the mistake of using a sub-par template on this site for far too long. A couple months ago, I did a comprehensive re-design of the site.

Maybe it’s not the prettiest blog around, but my statistics are showing people are reading more articles and staying around longer.

That’s all that matters to me.

5) The Thesis WordPress theme rocks

Yes, they have a lot of affiliate partners saying the same thing…but I’m just saying this because I’ve grown to love the flexibility of the theme. No commission needed!

6) Create an editorial calendar

Bloggers are publishers. Publications have an editorial calendar to manage and plan content. The same benefits apply to anyone with a blog.

7) Mind mapping is a great way to generate post ideas

Darren Rowse explained the process on Problogger, and it’s been one of the most helpful tips I’ve ever come across.

Twitter is probably a blogger’s most powerful tool

From feedback to research to promotion, I haven’t seen anything like it since I started blogging in 2002. In fact, I’ll be publishing an article next week on why Twitter is your blog’s best friend.

9) Email might be better than RSS for subscriptions

I’ll be honest: I’m bit of an RSS fanboy. Maybe it’s because I was involved building one of the first RSS publishing tools, or maybe it’s because I personally subscribe to dozens of blogs via newsfeeds.

So I wouldn’t have learned this unless I was listening to you. Based on feedback I received, people wanted to get updates by email. After asking around a bit, it turned out that a one-email-per-week was best for everyone.

Which is what I now offer here.

10) Leave your blog to grow it

Whether that is writing a comment on another blog or meeting up with a blogger in person, you need to get out there and interact with others.

Isolation slows growth – you need to be a part of the larger community to be successful.

11) Publish good articles elsewhere

After search, articles on industry websites have consistently been the top way new readers find this website. It goes back to the purpose of your blog. Mine is to spread ideas, so it doesn’t matter if people read content here or on another site.

12) But be careful with full syndication

Briefly syndicating all my content to a popular blog exchange actually hurt my Google rankings and overall traffic. The targeted distribution described above has worked far better for me.

13) Keep testing new things

I’m always trying something new. Sometimes the experiments fail, sometimes they do really well.

You never know until you try.

14) Stick with it for the long haul

Depending on your niche, the top bloggers say it takes around 6-12 months of full-time publishing to start getting traction with your blog.

I’m in this game to stay, and that commitment makes me invest more time and resources here.

I’m just getting started!

What’s next

There are a bunch of new projects in development, but right now I’m writing an ebook that explores how the hospitality industry can attract more guests with blogs.

If you want, you can get a notification when it launches.

Again, thanks for being a part of this blog, and I look forward to continuing learning with you!

The difference between Google and Twitter

After last week’s experiment, several months of testing various Twitter integration tactics, and reaching 100,000+ people in 36 hours, I’ve learned some interesting things.

Read more…