Most agents ask me, “Why do I need a Blog? It just doesn’t make much sense to me. I don’t have the time, and I don’t have anything to say. How will it help business?”

Blogging for Travel Agents - Not Just Kid Stuff

I heard the very same thing when e-mail was just beginning to show itself, too. Blogging, vlogging, podcasting and other forms of social media is the new “killer app” – It is the new e-mail.

The impersonal, static websites that are defined as successful because of the number of “hits” is long gone. It’s not about information – it’s about relationship.

So, travel agents – what do you sell? Let me rephrase that – what product do you sell that can’t be purchased online, or through a vendor or competitor? Probably nothing, right? So what’s left?

Relationship.

Which brings me back to blogging. Blogging isn’t another “new fangled thing” – it’s really a back to basics of what the web was supposed to be – people connecting to people. It’s the marketing wonks and start-up venture capitalists that made it complicated and messy and expensive.

A blog lets you communicate with people, engage them, ask them questions, learn from them and gain and foster loyalty. It isn’t a way to spray out offers, trick search engines or get rich quick. It is, however, more important than a regular website, in my opinion, because of the opportunities it presents to really sell the most expensive thing you have in the store – yourself.