Thanks for your long and thoughtful comment. My proposed benchmarks for judging a blog are very much “rules of thumb” for a busy tourism PR or marketing person to rapidly evaluate a possible blog of interest. Ranking is certainly an inexact science and some blogs rank really well for certain keywords and not others. Google PageRank is a broad brush, but it’s a starting point.

Some, like Chris Brogan, say that keyword search is becoming less important to people because so many sites try to game SEO and top search results can be bogus in quality and overwhelming in quantity. Word of mouth from those we trust is more important, and we can get those recommendations pretty quickly from Twitter, Facebook or even a LinkedIn question.

I still think that comments are a relevant means of measuring a blog’s engagement, and travelers who are interested certainly do comment frequently. I see it all the time on my two travel blogs and sites like WorldHum.

Thanks for visiting!

I’ve been blogging a long time, and you may or may not be able to determine that from my personal blog because I do much of my activities for other businesses, but I still try to keep it up when I can because, well, it’s a hobby. If you Google “sea kayaking tampa” – “high sierra ski tour” – “backpacking the napali coast” – “salt water charters charleston” or “cruising costa rica” I think you’ll see that I know what I am talking about. You’ll also see that I am in no way trying to monetize traffic. It is primarily a fun testing ground for self-expression where I am free to experiment and learn.

Assuming you have a site that is well indexed because you have systematically engaged in link building across numerous other sites and social media profiles – time being another big factor – then your post should immediately get ranked. However, if it isn’t well constructed (and there are many factors here to consider including subject line, quality of content, imagery, h2, h3, etc, etc), and it doesn’t receive engagement (visitation, referral links, comments) then it will die a quick death. As a side note: comments are very helpful but they aren’t as important as most people think; in fact, most travelers are reluctant to comment even though they found great value in the blog post.

There are several other tricks one can pursue right out of the gate to further engagement so that you solidify your relevance early and keep it. Furthermore, there are some fundamental components to the construction of your blog that make a significant difference. But that will have to be for another time! Great post Sheila and happy blogging!

It’s funny how my own personal “search engine” has changed – I used to look for good blogs written by people who are on Twitter, and now I tend to get to a blog and look immediately to see if they have a Twitter stream. Both serve a purpose.

Thanks for the HARO tip (I use it, too) and for highlighting Darren’s new Leeds Web site, which I think is a great idea and a natural for his talents and connections….because, you know that the Web is made for the tourism Little Guy.

I also really like HARO. http://helpareporter.com is a great way for tourism organizations to see what stories writers are working on and leverage such inquires into stories both online and off.

I also had a great convo with Darren last year at http://travelrants.com which (at least in part) led to the creation of a new travel blog about Leeds that intends to get the local flavour onto the Web.

Indeed it’s not too late for CVB’s and DMO’s to get into the social web, great strides can be made quickly.

Please keep me posted about your upcoming project. Sounds delightful.

Good question! Obviously some version of my answer should become another blog post here and/or part of the Tourism Currents material.

I’d do a quick review of a few of the most recent posts, then poke through the categories/archives just a bit, to get a feel for writing style, topics the blogger covers, how they organize their thoughts and most importantly, whether there’s good engagement with readers in the comments. A lively community around the blog, big or small, is important. I mostly want to see good writing, positive interaction with readers, some use of photos/video/audio would be a plus, and fairly consistent posting (can be 5X a week or once a week, just consistent.)

I have a Google toolbar installed that gives me the site’s Google Page Rank, which is good to know but not necessarily an indicator of whether it’s a “quality blog.” Technorati “authority” is another data point, but that site’s been shaky lately so I don’t give that mark too much credence. I have an Alexa toolbar installed but never look at the results because I don’t think they’re accurate. Then I could run it through HubSpot’s Website Grader for even more stats.

Then I’d maybe Google the author’s name and see what else they’re doing on the Web. Does he/she have photos on Flickr? Video on YouTube or another video channel? How do they interact on Twitter? Do they have a professional LinkedIn profile? A Web site that showcases some of their other sites or interests?

The blessing of the Web is that you can pretty easily access a ton of info about a writer/blogger before you engage with them about your destination; that isn’t as easy in the print world and it’s a major advantage of reaching out to bloggers.

Thanks for your thoughts.