One year ago, I published my first article on my Hotel Marketing Strategies blog, titled Why You Need a Web Presence.

A lot has happened since then, and the growth on that blog 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!

[This was originally published on the Hotel Marketing Strategies blog]

Most corporate blogging policies fail because they are simply a list of do’s and don’ts.

A great blogging policy goes beyond the simplistic list, and will include a number of good examples of what to do. These positive case studies can serve as guides to write better blogs. It shows your staff, what is possible when blogging is done right.

When you’re writing your hotel or restaurant blogging policy, be sure to include positive examples your writers can observe and learn from.

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.

Twitter is the best social media marketing tool for bloggers

I started blogging in 2002, and have tested many different tools since then. Delicious, Digg, and StumbleUpon all have the potential of reaching large numbers of people. But for the typical blogger, nothing matches the viral marketing potential of Twitter.

How you use Twitter makes a huge difference

Like nearly every other aspect of business, you can achieve success quicker by using the right tactics. Some bloggers on Twitter get tens of thousands of new readers each day by using the tool; others tweet frantically and never really get anywhere.

Here are some lessons I’m learning from the best bloggers on Twitter…

Only promote your best posts

Instead of automatically syndicating your blog on Twitter, focus on a few articles you know could be winners.

Personally, I aim to publish 3-5 posts to this blog weekly; and tweet 50-75% of them.

Depending on your publishing frequency, you may want to adjust this.

Promote your best posts well

It’s fine to re-tweet your posts several times throughout the day. Several experts suggest every 2-3 hours is best.

With many of us having hundreds, if not thousands, of followers on Twitter it’s easy to miss what your friends are saying. I try to check into Twitter several times each day, but since my whole friend feed in TweetDeck is updated every 10 minutes or so, you can see how easy it can be to miss updates.

When you’re communicating with a worldwide audience, the difference in time zones makes this even more important.

Tweet formula 1: Insight + Link

Depending on how good your titles are, you may be fine just using them in tweets. But I get a little bored with those sometimes.

Instead, try tweeting a little excerpt from your post along with the link for more info.

That way, you add real value and arouse curiosity at the same time.

Tweet formula 2: Question + Link

Questions encourage conversations. Some people believe it’s effective than just giving out information.

Try it for yourself and see.

Tweet formula 3: Retweet someone else

If someone else tweets about your article, try retweeting them:

Highlight reader discussions

One of my favorite parts of blogging is learning from your comments. If one post draws a lively discussion, let people know about it on Twitter.

Use some type of ‘Tweet this’ link

I’ve tested multiple formats, and Tweetmeme was the hands-down winner for me.Perhaps displaying the number of retweets adds an element of social proof, but I think it’s just a very elegant solution to content sharing.

As of today, it will become the only social media sharing tool on this blog.

Know why you’re on Twitter

Is it to build your overall number of followers…or reach a select audience of very targeted people? Is it to drive page views, or share your ideas as far as possible? Selling something, or part of your branding efforts?

You may be able to achieve multiple goals at the same time, but knowing why you’re using a tool helps you focus.

Action step: Spend 5 minutes brainstorming how Twitter could help you build your blog’s audience.

Let me ask you this: How do YOU use Twitter to promote your blog?

[This was originally posted to the hotel marketing blog]

If you want a higher level of reader involvement in your hospitality or travel blog, present the website as a place for the readers to connect with their peers — instead of just receive your messages.

People like to learn from other people like them.

The more you can move your blog towards becoming a community of like-minded travelers, the higher the level of engagement you are likely to achieve.

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 executives tend to think that blogs and social media marketing is just a function for the marketing staff. But savvy hospitality organizations are realizing that great results can come from bringing your sales team into the blogging process.

Blogging is as much an education for the publishers as it is a communications platform. The people that write the blog learn a lot about their readers, which in your case, is your guests. And the more you know about them, the better you can meet their needs in a sales situation.

Involve your sales team in your blog. You can start out with having them read it regularly, and then begin having them write entries and participate in the conversation happening on your blog.

Your sales numbers will undoubtedly go up.

Today’s savvy traveler is likely to be marketing-averse. They increasingly ignore traditional advertising, and may even resent marketing initiatives they find too intrusive.

Social media marketing — and blogging in particular — can be an excellent way to reach these people.

By publishing solid, interesting information you are providing a solution.

And solving someone’s need is an excellent way to introduce your brand.

Since we seen such great results with hospitality organizations using blogs, some social media experts have wondered if the traditional website is going to become extinct.

While some hotels and restaurants are building their main website on a blog publishing platform such as WordPress, we recommend that your organization have some sort of solid website in place before beginning a social media marketing campaign such as blogging.

The reason for this is obvious: people will be finding out about your hotel through lots of different ways, and you want to first impression to be a good one…one that leads to a sale.

So if your hotel website needs fixing, fix it. If your restaurant website needs to be redesigned, do it.

But as soon as you have a decent website in place, we recommend you begin building your blog. Websites are always a work in progress, and something that you can update and improve as you go.

How often should you post new entries?

It doesn’t really matter, as long as it’s predictable. Find a schedule that works for you, and stick to it.

Many of the top bloggers here at Blog World strongly recommending using post scheduling to keep the rhythm constant.

“I write a bunch of posts at one time, and schedule the next week’s worth of entries to be published automatically.” -Dave Taylor

Ben Huh of Icanhascheezburger.com talks about the importance of reliably good content. Good content alone is nice, but when the frequency is reliable, readers increase  and become more loyal.

Wordpress and most other blog publishing tools will allow post scheduling. Give it a try!

Which is better for blog subscriptions: email or RSS newsfeed?

Email.

Email typically generates a 3-4 times larger subscription base than RSS.

Email usually has a higher engagement rate. People are more likely to read your messages by email, and more likely to click on your links.

Use your blog to focus on building an email list.