This is a guest post by @adriasaracino

A symbol depicting a palm tree. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With thousands of travel blogs published every day, it’s easy for a compelling blogger to get lost in the fray.

That’s where travel blogger networks come in, forming a tight knit community of high quality, dedicated bloggers that link to one another’s work, comment and guest post on each other’s blogs, participate in Follow Fridays on Twitter and engage in community wide travel contests, sponsored by travel companies.

The combined efforts of this passionate, energetic and creative group of people creates content-rich media that greatly increases their individual search engine rankings while forming a tight-knit, caring community. Together, they find individual success.

And they’re perfect for your marketing efforts.

Why? Because they’re early adopters with a platform. They’re always on the cutting edge, looking for the best experiences and deals so that they can live life to the fullest. And they’re just as hopped up about helping others do it, too.

So, how can marketers engage with this moving and shaking community?

1. Use or Give Badges

The most popular travel blogs have vibrant sidebars in which they promote other travel bloggers or services with badges. While these are essentially ads, they don’t feel like it. They’re content-rich, written in a way that relates directly to the user so they feel appropriately targeted, therefore increasing the click-through rate.

A brand can issue their own to important bloggers for use on their site. What does it offer bloggers? A boost to their reputation and credibility via a stamp of approval from a recognized brand – your brand.

2. Curate a Travel Blog

One of the best ways to engage with the travel blogging community is by curating a company travel blog. Most of the best travel business websites, from currency exchange websites like Travelex to airline carriers like EasyJet, already run their own blogs. Go a step further by reaching out to the travel blogging networks directly to find guest bloggers. When treated well, these bloggers will most likely continue to use and promote these services in their own time.

3. Be Helpful

Providing access to the highest quality travel information is crucial for building the best reputation and search rankings not just amongst travel bloggers but amongst general customers as well. Travel bloggers can see right through crap content, so don’t waste your time creating it if you want to gain their trust.

4. Sponsor Contests

Travelers love new adventures, and you’ll garner a lot of attention if you partner with a blogging network to promote a cool new contest. For instance, The Global Bloggers Network runs blog hops, where people must travel to each blog within the network to gather information, which they submit to win prizes from sponsoring companies. In past contests, Contiki and EastytoBook have given away a $2,000 cash prize as well as three night’s accommodation at a resort. This is a great way to engage potential customers.

If you approach travel blogging networks in the right way, you can help a company become a trusted member of this tight knit community, staying fresh in customer’s minds as they recall the quality content or fun experiences you’ve provided online. What’s more, the brand will be considered cool, cutting edge and perhaps even world-changing – just the kind of thing travelers love.

Adria Saracino is a marketer and blogger. When not consulting on business’ content strategy, you can find her writing about style on her personal fashion blog, The Emerald Closet.

The flag of England is the St George cross. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Forgive me for straying away from my usual topics a little in order to wish everyone a Happy St. George’s Day.

The following poem made me smile and I hope it will make you smile too, and be taken in the spirit it is meant.

No one calls it racist
When the daffodil’s worn in Wales
Or is offended by their dragon
With its forked tail and scales

When St Patrick’s day comes round
And the shamrock’s being worn
The Irish are not treated
With insult or with scorn

If a Scotsman on St Andrew’s day
Hoists his flag aloft
He’s not proclaimed a fascist
Or ridiculed or scoffed

So when St George’s Day arrives
We English men wont hide
For Elizabeth, England & St George
We’ll wear our Rose with pride

From http://www.verses4cards.co.uk/st-georges-day-verses-poems-quotes.html

It’s still happening with alarming regularity to lots of us, judging from the emails I get!

One of the most frequent Pinterest questions I’m asked at the moment is ‘How do I remove myself when someone adds me to a Pinterest board?’

So here’s how to do it.

First of all navigate to the board you’ve been added to. The example I’m using below is a board I’m actually happy to be a part of, as I’ve removed myself from those I’m not!

Once you’re on the board, you should see the edit button (click on image to enlarge):

Once you’ve clicked on the edit button you should see a list of the board’s contributors / editors – in the image below I appear at the top, which isn’t always the case, so you may have to search for yourself. (I’ve removed the details of other contributors.)

Simply click on ‘remove’ to start the process of removing yourself from the board.

Now comes the important bit – I missed this out at first and became really annoyed when I was still getting alerts that people had added to the board!

Scroll right to the bottom of the page and click on the ‘save settings’ button – it looks like this:

Once you’ve clicked that you’ll be removed – simple!

Why should I remove yourself from a board?

It may be flattering that someone has added you to a board called ‘Best pinterest Users’ or ‘People of Importance’ but you have no control over it. You don’t know whether the other contributors to the board are people you would want to be aligned with, or what content they’ll post.

It’s also pretty odds on that you don’t really know the person who has added you, have no idea of the reason for the board, and will never post to it anyway!

And remember, every board you are a contributor to, whether one of yours or one you’ve been added to without asking, shows up on your profile. When someone adds you to a board think “Do I want this on my Pinterest profile?”.

If the answer is no, then remove yourself as soon as possible.

Have you been added to boards without your permission? Did you remove yourself or did you just say nothing and try to ignore it?

This is an example blog for a training sesion I’m running at a Eureka Platinum Mastermind Group

Blogging can be hard for some people, and successful buiness people are no different – some of the issues I’ve heard about today include:

• I don’t have time to blog
• I can’t think of anything to blog about
• My website doesn’t have a blog
• I can’t blog because I’m confidential
• I used to blog but gave up

Today we’re going through how to blog, why to blog and where to blog in the hope of getting that Eureka! moment that will help them go away loving the idea of blogging.

If I’ve done this properly, this blog will be the thing that proves to them the power of blogging and I’l be saying Eureka!

Want to give Pinterest a go? If you’re not sure where to start, my Pinterest Management Offer may help set you on the right track.

A guest post from @hfitzy34

Today’s small businesses can’t afford to overlook the tools and opportunities created by tech and Web advancements. More than ever before, new technology is making it easier for small businesses to compete with larger companies through software and services that reduce overhead while making business operations more efficient. A host of tools and applications can be used by a small business to drive various business functions, including payroll, contact management, and human resources work.

Of equal importance are the marketing opportunities provided trough social media. With social media profiles, businesses can engage both local and non-local consumer bases, expand their audience, build brand trust and loyalty, and gather consumer data that can guide the company’s marketing efforts — all at a cost much lower than what would have been the standard a decade ago.

To put it simply, small businesses now have access to a virtual buffet of practical technology tools and solutions designed to help their business flourish and grow. By identifying your business’s most-pressing needs, you can target the technology solutions providing the most value to your company, increasing profits as you cut out the fat and become more efficient.

Tech Products & Services

Most small businesses can’t afford to employ full-time human resources staff. But the services provided by this department are vital to any business. Fortunately, newly developed software tools like applicant tracking and staff management systems enable you to track and organize a variety of functions. Exact Hire is one of a growing sprawl of companies catering to the massive growth of online job seekers with software designed to streamline the application process for both the employer and the to-be-employed. Through software products like these, you can convert numerous business functions to paperless organization, helping you track applications,interviews, employee onboarding, training, and assessments for all of your employees and position candidates, saving time and resources while doing all the organizing for you.

Other contact management and customer relationship software and services, such as Microsoft Outlook, can help you track your customer interactions, sales histories and contacts with ease.

Harness the Power of Social Media

Cloud computing services are rapidly gaining popularity in business circles. The ability to purchase computing work as a service stored virtually through a shared network known as the “cloud” has created a bevy of opportunities for businesses. But perhaps the greatest benefit of cloud computing are the applications and services provided through the cloud that allow businesses to gather unprecedented amounts of information from various social media profiles. Small businesses can use cloud-based products and services to manage social media profiles, evaluate the efficacy of those profiles, gather data and analyze that data to learn more about consumers and their satisfaction with your business. Information has never been more available, nor more valuable, to businesses than it is now, and a smart small business owner will take advantage of the tools and applications created to process this information.

Where to Find Solutions

Product and services claiming to be essential to your business’s success can be found in every direction. But the margin of error in small businesses is so small that investing in sub-standard services and products can be a dramatic setback. Stick to companies with a proven track record and a strong reputation from past clients. If certain functions of your business reside outside of your strengths or comfort areas, you can also consider outsourcing some of these functions — such as payroll services and social media management — to third-party companies that specialize in these services.

Ultimately, today’s small businesses are poised to benefit in numerous ways from the abundance of technology at their disposal. Position your company on the inside track by investing in these new technologies and getting the jump on your competitors.

Henry Fitzgerald is a technology consultant based in Seattle. When not geeking out over the latest tech gadgets, he spends his time cooking, playing soccer, and sailing. Check out his tech blog here or follow him on twitter:@hfitzy34

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