Why oh why do sites insist on spamming this and The Travel Generation blog - adding comments that are irrelevant basically to trying generate links and traffic to their site.  I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but it does nothing for your search engine rankings effort.

Apart from the 50 or so different endless sex sites that spam us everyday I recently got a comment from a hostel in Adelaide promoting themselves (badly) and another from an SEO company in Los Angeles doing the same.  These comments added nothing to the context of the discussion (in fact, in the case of the Adelaide hostel it was in the wrong post - they could have generated traffic by at least saying something of interest in a relevant post).

So why do sites continue to spam us?  Well there is probably two main reasons - the first, is in pursuit of links I expect.  Unfortunately to these there is nothing but bad news.  Nearly every link in the comments on all blogs has a “nofollow” tag on it.  This means that the blog owner is telling the search engine to not follow or count this link - precisely to not reward spammers.  It is in fact the default setup in Wordpress and other blogging software so blogs have it without even realising.

The second reason would be to drive traffic to your website.  This is a fair practice and is based on the idea that if I contribute sensible and valuable points to the conversation people may be interested in my stuff and visit my site (I know I do if I am reading something of interest and I see a relevant commentator).  But the point is relevance and interesting.  Shoving random self promotional comments in (eg Nice Site - I will be sure to be back + link to my travel site) will not get you traffic!  Moreover, it is more than likely to get you deleted.

On all our blogs we run a little application called Akismet and this catches 90% of all the porn comments and a majority of others - but the occasional one slips through.  More than anything it is simply a case of frustration, taking me a few minutes everyday to go through and delete the ones that were missed, and equally to trawl through the spam for valid comments that have been caught by accident and reinstate them.  Spam comments on a blog make the site look unprofessional and detract people from reading it so you have to keep on top of them, but similarly if a commentator makes a comment they get equally frustrated if it does not appear on the site in a timely fashion so you have to be on top of your spam folder also.  The more spam the harder both these tasks are.

So, a desperate plea to all spammers - please piss off.  Employ a real SEO company that will get you legitimate traffic instead of using rubbish tactics that don’t work.

So with our new (still under wraps) launch of phase 1 of Travel Generation involving the wiki and the blog I have spent a whole day looking at all the travel blogs (those that I think are relevant to the backpacking market). Here is my pick of the crop in no particular order

http://www.nomad4ever.com/: asia-centric blog but good for anything world travel

http://itinerantlondoner.wordpress.com/: Geoff’s own blog as he travels around the world - nice presentation and true to the spirit of backpacking

http://www.nomadicmatt.com/: This blog got me thinking and is perhaps the root of much of the ideas for the upcoming travelgeneration blog.  I have subscribed to his feed for sometime.

http://nobudgettravel.wordpress.com/: How to travel the world with no money

http://www.gadling.com/: An awesome travel blog and reference site - but I don’t know if it falls into the backpacking category strictly.  Which probably begs the question - what is backpacking anyway?

http://killingbatteries.com/: I love this site; everything is just so honest and raw - for pure content one of my favourites

http://almostfearless.com/: very classy site

http://thetravelersnotebook.com/: one of the professional matador group websites - really fun content professionally produced

http://eurosatemydollars.com/: One of my favourites - lots of really proper useful content (instead of that photo of the day cliche post that fills so many travel blogs)

http://www.myseveralworlds.com/: Carrie Marshall’s beautifully produced blog about her time in Asia

http://sanddollaradventures.wordpress.com/: An almost pro-blogging site by an eternal traveller

http://travel.booklocker.com/: Tim Leffel’s Cheapest Destinations

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blogs/travel_blog/: Yup!

http://gogreentravelgreen.com/: These guys are interesting - they focus on travel tips for eco-conscious travellers

http://www.travel-wonders.com/: this is a nice site with an eclectic collection of posts

http://travel-junkie.com/: Boris’ personal site is one of my favourites - he might spend a lot of time travelling, but he also has done a great job on this site

http://www.travel-betty.com/: A nice blog for travelling women

http://www.europealacarte.co.uk/blog/: An interesting array of content by an equally interesting array of bloggers - not a big fan of the design

http://frugaltravelguy.blogspot.com/: Some interesting hints on how to get the best deal on everything from flights to airpoints

http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/?fbid=BJ7euW: He is an absolute nutter, dancing round the world - absolutely brilliant

http://www.travelblogs.com: For a list of other travel blogs

Following on from my post about the launch of the Base and NJoy/Calypso blogs and the value of fresh content here are 5 tips on how to get ideas for all the fresh content.

In my previous post I showed how creating fresh search engine optimized content on a regular basis is one of the best ways to build your Internet footprint and search engine rankings.  However, getting ideas for that content can be a challenge for even the best marketers, bloggers, or webmasters.  Here are 5 ideas that I use to get the creative juices flowing and a few ideas for our blog here:

1.  Look at relevant question and answers sites.  We spend a lot of time on questions and answers sites as well as social media sites on behalf of our clients fielding relevant questions.  I also monitor topics that are of interest for ourselves particularly in the areas of SEO, Internet development and tourism.  From here I look regularly spot hot topics in a particular area to which I have either formulated my own opinion, do some research or talk to the guys here at Xebidy to aggregate their thoughts.

2.  The use of keyword generating tools is an almost daily if not hourly task for the SEO guys here at Xebidy, whether it be rework the onsite optimisation for a client or working a cost-per-click campaign.  For those looking for content to target more traffic looking for keyword phrases that you might not have as aprt of your standard optimistation plan and creating content around can be a very rewarding strategy.

3.  Your own blog can be a great source of inspiration.  I get a good number of comments on this blog or if not directly on the blog then emailed to me from which I draw inspiration for another post.  Rather than simply answering the comment or email with a whole answer I am able to do further research and answer the question comprehensively via a full blog post.

4.  Look at other blogs when seeking inspiration.  I have a huge number of blogs that I follow through my RSS reader (Google Reader).  On a daily basis I read anything from 50 to 100 posts and if I find something interesting I “star” the item.  I then regularly go back to my star items and reread them for blog content inspiration.  The important thing is not to copy others, but to use those ideas and the ensuing comment discussion as the basis for you formulating your own ideas.

5.  Finally a source of inspiration can be Google Trends.  Look at Google Trends to get ideas for what’s hot in your blogs’ area of expertise.  Look for increased search volumes that might indicate a spike in interest in a particular topic or breaking news.  Being ahead of the game will generate you increased traffic to your site ahead of your competitors.

We have recently developed a new blog for Base as well as our Calypso and NJoy.  Both have the potential to be very cool and market leading, but what is the real value of them?  In this post I list a few reasons every company should have a blog.

1. Fresh content attracts more attention from search engines.  Search engines love fresh content and there is no easier way to create relevant regular content than a blog.
2. Search engines crawl websites with fresh content more regularly.  Although search engines will come past your site frequently, daily or even weekly visits are limited to sites that are more popular and more importantly, those with regularly changing content.
3. In the case of hostels a large amount of the content on a website does not change very often - room types and location don’t change - and getting search engine traffic can become difficult.  A blog can offer a means of introducing fresh content on a regular basis.
4. Fresh informative blog content can help a site be seen as a greater authority on a topic
5. The nature of readers commenting and linking to blog posts creates a web community of interlinking sites generating new traffic to your site.  Links are perhaps the biggest factor used in modern search algorithms; the more links the better the site ranks in organic searches.
6. A blog containing original ideas and opinions will be an invaluable way to attract links from other blogs and websites in your market, improving the overall footprint of your website and business across the Internet, while raising your profile within your relevant community/industry.
7. Blogs can be an ideal way for companies to reach out to their customers in a less formal communication.  Although usually more relaxed than other websites hostel sites are still conveying pretty standard information - where the hostel is, the rooms types, the features and rates.  A blog can create a more customer friendly face giving opinion, news and a human side to the business - something that is the backbone of a successful hostel.
8. Blogs can be fun; a way of staff rallying around the website and communicating with past and future customers and the industry at large

With the launch of the Base and Calypso/NJoy blogs expect to see more of the same in coming months.