6. Offer time sensitive offers, such as coupons, local specials, etc. at least two to three times a month. Send an email campaign to let people know that they can find offers only on your blog.

7. Let your visiting hotel guests know about the blog and ask them to post comments about their experiences with your hotel and the destination. You may want to check first that the guests had a great time.

8. Socialize your blog - this is a very important step towards promoting your blog. You have to seek out bloggers who are blogging about your area and your topics.

9. Offer periodic podcasts about local events, attractions, and things to do, etc.

10. Inform and train your employees to be aware of the blog and be a part of the promotional strategy. When they answer a call, they should be able to provide additional information about the blog.

Tracking Your Blog's ROI

Blogs give businesses indirect, long-term ROI. The best return on investment from a blog comes from gaining a better understanding of your customer. From the customer point of view, people do business with people they know. When people read your blog and comment on your blog, they feel they know you and your business.

You can track your blog's ROI by:

1. Enrolling/submitting your feed using Feedburner, software that gives you the flexibility to manage RSS feeds and track usage of subscribers.

2. Adding online tracking software such as Urchin and Webtrends to track unique visitors, page views, and referrals, etc.

3. Phone Tracking - Add phone tracking on your blog to find out what people are asking when they call after reviewing your blog.

Examples of Lodging Industry Blogs

Your blog can focus on delivering news, establishing you as a leader, or can be niche, destination, or company specific. Here are few blogs established for the lodging industry.

Leader Blogs - Lodging industry leaders or franchise companies can create a blog to communicate their corporate initiatives, news and history, or add a personal touch by adding voice casts.

Niche Specific Blogs – The lodging industry can create niche specific blogs, such as blogs catering to luxury travelers and travelers looking for great deals or travel videos such as Upgrade Travel Blogs, travel blog featuring tips, news, and commentary for business and leisure travelers looking for comfort, style, and convenience while getting great deals.

Destination Specific Blogs – These blogs showcase a destination, featuring top attractions, tours, dining, etc., and offer featured hotels. Destination blogs can feature one hotel or can be used by several hotels. Essentially they are not focusing on the hotel, but rather they are talking about a destination that brings people to the hotel. Once readers decide to try a destination and things to do, they can choose to stay at one of the featured hotels.

Company Specific Blogs – Companies marketing to a specific industry can create a blog focused on that industry. Blog categories highlight the main products the company is offering. For example, on Milestone's blog we talk about emerging trends, email marketing tips, local search, blogs, podcasts and information relevant to internet marketing.

Thanks for reading!!

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