Tehre are many platforms out there – Wordpress, Blogspot, Typepad , and more…I use Wordpress so all examples to day will be within a Wordpress system, all the platforms have the same principles but just a different way to access, setup and useBlog platforms have lots of cool tools and plugins that allow you to add ‘more’ to your blog posts and blog site – the more being items to help people find you onlineIf your blog looks like # 1 you do not have it on your site = wordpress traffic attributesExample @ 2 is a page on the website timeontask = the first example is a free blogsite on wordpressMajor difference is who owns the url. The free one is owned by wordpress – the self hosted one is owned by me. Traffic directed to the free one belongs to wordpress. The traffic directed to my blog is owned by me and I have installed a blogging platform on my wenite. The /blog is merely one page of my website and every time I publish a new blog post it means new content is added to my web page. When the search engines and spiders crawl for updated info – it is there. And if I have written with purpose and a plan this content will have many of the keywords people use when searching for my type of businessHave your blog setup properly either by yourself or someone who specializes in this. 2nd one is it son your site – you get traffic and ranking credit. This is the best way to have people find you.They come to one place with everythingMany people have a sep free site which is greast starting out but anythign you do there build ranlkings for them not you. And many cases the blog one looks different than maiun site so branding /recognition takes a hit
Want to show people how active your brand is right from search results? Now you can by directly connecting your website to your Google+ page. When someone searches for your brand, they will not only see your website listing, but also your latest Google+ activity.This can be a huge addition to your brand's domination of search results as it will push anything past your Google+ listing further down the first page. As an added bonus, searchers who are logged in to their Google+ account can add your brand page to their circles directly from search results.
Social networking has changed how travelers research trips, make decisions and share experiences. Sites like Facebook, with more than 1 Billion active users, and TripAdvisor, with 50 million + unique monthly visitors, enable travelers to seek trip information and advice from the sources they trust the most: other travelers and people they know. As a result they arrive at your doors more informed and empowered than ever before, with higher expectations and all sorts of channels for sharing likes and dislikes with large volumes of people.To harness the powers of social media as a competitive advantage, travel and tourism operators must cut out the clutter and focus on the areas that will provide the greatest returns. To that end here are five key trends in social media to understand and embrace into 2012 and beyond.Pictures as much as possibe –onsite – staff community – clients fun happening and then the normal business one too…