This document provides guidance on how to find and evaluate good travel bloggers. It discusses both qualitative factors like design, content, and engagement as well as quantitative metrics from analytics tools. It also introduces the Professional Travel Bloggers Association (PTBA), which has established standards for travel blogging as a profession and offers resources for evaluating bloggers.

1. How to find and evaluate good
bloggers

2. What we will cover today
• A sea of travel bloggers but where are the
good ones?
• Trust your gut: qualitative analysis
• Looking at the numbers: quantitative
analysis and how blogs inflate numbers
• How the Professional Travel Bloggers
Association (PTBA) can help you

3. Who are we
Michael Hodson
@GoSeeWrite
Laurence Norah
@Lozula
Laurel Robbins
@Laurel_Robbins

4. Qualitative Analysis
• Design
• Self-hosted
• Niche
• Age of site
• Frequency of posting
• Appropriate content
• Photo vs. video vs. text
• Informational vs. narrative
• Comments and interaction with readers

5. Social Media
• Numbers alone are NOT the key
– What social media platforms do they use
– Who are their followers
– Are they contributing regularly
– Are people interacting – is there conversation
or just broadcasting?

6. Facebook interaction

7. Twitter interaction

8. Navigating Quantitative
Analytics

9. The Standard: Google Analytics

10. Before working with a
blogger ask
• Statistics
– Who reads them?
• Demographics now on Google Analytics
– Google Analytics only
• References of people they have worked with in the
past
• Example of previous press trip posts, photos, or
videos

11. The PTBA

12. The PTBA
• Formed to help develop travel blogging intoFormed to help develop travel blogging into
profession with a set of professionalprofession with a set of professional
standardsstandards
• 50 bloggers and 10 industry members worked50 bloggers and 10 industry members worked
for 12 months to develop structurefor 12 months to develop structure
• Almost 275 international blogging membersAlmost 275 international blogging members
right now and growingright now and growing
• Located atLocated at
travelbloggersassociation.comtravelbloggersassociation.com

13. Customized search
• Search by location, language and nearly 40
niches
• Industry standard statistics for site evaluation
• Metrics for all social media platforms
• RSS subscribers and newsletter subscribers
• Outside evaluation included (Klout,
PeerIndex, Kred)
• Unlimited number of searches, using any and
all criteria you want

14. Search Engine

15. Blogger Profiles

16. Questions

17. Big Announcement

18. Thank you
Michael Hodson
michaelshodson@yahoo.com
Laurence Norah
laurence@findingtheuniverse.com
Laurel Robbins
info@monkeysandmountains.com
For PTBA inquiries
contact@travelbloggersassociation.com