how blogging and social media earn you money | itb asia 2015 | by matt gibson

HOW TRAVEL BLOGGING & SOCIAL MEDIA

EARN YOU MONEYBy Matt Gibson

PTBA: http://travelbloggersassociation.com Xpat Media: http://xpat.media

President of Professional

Travel Bloggers Association

CEO Xpat.Media

Award-Winning Adventure

Travel Blogger: XpatMatt.com

Professional writer, editor, and

photographer



WHAT WE‘RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT

Why content marketing is the future

How blogging and social media createcustomers

SEO: How it works and why blogging iscrucial

How travel bloggers can help you


ONLINE MARKETING IS ESSENTIAL

It‘s part of every stage of the travel buying cycle

• Dreaming

• Planning

• Booking

• Travel

• Sharing


DREAMING

• Inspiration found on social networks,

blogs, and YouTube.

• 65% of leisure travelers are inspired by

online sources

• 42% of travelers are inspired to travel by

YouTube content.

Source: Google Travel Study, June 2014, Ipsos MediaCT

PTBA: http://travelbloggersassociation.com Xpat Media: http://xpat.mediaPTBA: http://travelbloggersassociation.com Xpat Media: http://xpat.media

PLANNING

• About 80% of travelers use online

resources to plan their trips

• Search is the most common starting point



BOOKING

• In 2014 online booking accounted for over

40% of travel sales in America and Europe

• In 2012 Chinese booked15% of their trips

online

• Expected to rise to 24% in 2015

• Chinese online-travel is worth around $30

billion USD.

Source: The Economist, June 2014

PTBA: http://travelbloggersassociation.com Xpat Media: http://xpat.mediaPTBA: http://travelbloggersassociation.com Xpat Media: http://xpat.mediaPTBA: http://travelbloggersassociation.com Xpat Media: http://xpat.media

TRAVELING

• Online sources influence

• in-destination decisions more than

anything else

• Smartphones used most for this

• Search, Yelp, TripAdvisor, local

websites, apps, online videos



SHARING

• Most common during & after travel

• 32% of travelers inspired by online

content from family, friends, or

colleagues

• Over 25% turn to personal online

connections when planning travel.



THE ONLINE SALES FUNNEL


ONSITE INDICATORS

• Well-built website

• Load time

• Mobile-friendly

• Quality topical content

• Good user experience

• Traffic


OFFSITE INDICATORS

• Social shares

• Brand mentions

• Inbound links


THE BEST SEO STRATEGY

• Social Media

• Blogging

• PR


HOW CONTENT HELPS

• Total inbound links

• Total social shares

• Online brand mentions

• Keyword volume

• Topic authority


HOW CONTENT HELPS

• Pages per visit

• Time on site

• Total website traffic

• Long-tail keyword searches


HOW TRAVEL BLOGGERS HELP

• Technical skills

• Understanding of SEO

• Experience building a community

• Travel blogging community ties

• Understand the issues travelers face


REVIEW

• Online marketing reaches travelers at every

stage of the travel buying cycle

• The online sales funnel is key to maximizing

results

• Blogging is key to good SEO

• Travel bloggers have the specialized skills

necessary for success


FURTHER INFORMATION


FURTHER INFORMATION

FREE MEMBERSHIPhttp://travelbloggersassociation.com


FURTHER INFORMATION

Slides, sources, and links to more resources

http://xpat.media/itbasia

Free personal consultations during ITB Asia

Phone: +65 9422 7747

Email: [email protected]

http://xpat.media/itbasia

how blogging and social media earn you money | itb asia 2015 | by matt gibson

Marketing