Tourism INTERNET Marketing Blog 1.0

T-List on Facebook

Sunday, July 15. 2007

Let's build a community amongst Travel-related bloggers on Facebook!

Join the T-List Community on Facebook

The T-List stands for Travel-related blogs, and was created back in March 2007 by Matthieu at the Radar Blog.

The idea is now to take the T-List a step further, make it social, and build a community among Travel-related bloggers. Facebook is a great tool do so. Let's connect amongst ourselves (I am already connected with a quite a few other T-List Bloggers, so let's use this group as our platform. And why? Well, just because Facebook is quite amazing, and so travel-related bloggers can start sharing thoughts amongst each other...but other than that, for no particular reason.

Here is what you need to do if you are a Travel-related Blogger:

1. Go to Facebook, and sign-up or sign-in.
2. Search for "T-List Community" (note: if that fails, paste this URL in the browser address bar while signed in: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2416336297
3. Join this Group (top right hand side)
3. If your blog is on the current T-List (please see below), or should be on the T-List, please enter your information on the Facebook WALL below.

You should add:
- Your name
- Your company
- Your location
- Your blog's name
- Your blog's URL
- Quick description of your blog
- Optional: What is your differentiator/what do you want to achieve with your blog

Here is the most current T-list of some worthy travel blog sites I was able to find:

General Travel Blogs

Travel Industry Blogs

Foreign Language Travel Blogs

French Travel Blogs

Italian Travel Blogs

ADV Italia

Dutch Travel Blogs

weekendhotel weblog

German Travel Blogs

Spanish Travel Blogs

Posted by Jens Thraenhart in Travel & Tourism at 16:09 | Comments (19) | Trackbacks (0)

Impressions from China...

Friday, July 13. 2007

Better late than never, and quite a few people asked me to write about my recent trip to China and the China Search Marketing Tour. We traveled from Beijing, to Shanghai, to Xiamen, and finally ended up in Hong Kong with a day trip to Macao.

Needless to say, China is booming, and even my second trip was just as fascinating as the first one. Not to go into too many travel experiences, I will say that I was very impressed by Beijing. As the capital is preparing to welcome the world for the 2008 Summer Olympics, the contrast between old and new is amazing. In the forbidden city, I was able to get a personalized caligrophy by the nephew of the Last Emperor. (Also I was able to taste some fabulous Peking Duck!!).

Shanghai is certainly one (if not THE) shopping capital of the world. Two years ago, when I visited Shanghai for the first time, I was able to visit the Ancient City (about an hour outside of the city), which is amazing.

And Xiamen, the host city of the China Search Engine Strategies Conference, was very interesting. Bordering to Taiwan, the city is not only one of the technology hubs of China, but also one of the most exclusive resorts for wealthy Chinese people.

Some time back, I wrote about the Chinese Firewall. Besides walking the Great Wall of China, I can report that the "Chinese Firewall" is working, even though it is common knowledge that it is possible to find loop holes. Sites, such as YouTube, Wikipedia, and Technorati were just some of the sites that were blocked.

Some other interesting facts include:

- If you're one in a million in China... There are 1,300 people just like you - China will soon become the number one English speaking country in the world - The 25% of the population in China with the highest IQ's... Is greater than the total population of North America.

Besides learning about China, and connecting with some of the brightest search engine marketers, below are some of the online trends as it relates to China:

Internet Usage in China vs. US:

154 Million Regular Internet Users in the United States - 68% of the total population
150 Million Regular Internet Users in China - 10.5% of the total population
XX Million Mobile Internet Users in the United States - XX% of the total population
450 Million Mobile Internet Users in China - 31.5% of the total population

Search Engine Market Share in China:

Baidu - 62%
Google China - 20%
Others (including Yahoo!, MSN & Sina) - 18%

Important Websites in the Chinese Search Landscape:

Baidu (search, media, entertainment, content, news, blogging CMS)
Sina (blogging CMS, news, entertainment)
AliBaba aka Yahoo! (business to business professional directory)
Sohu (news, blogging, entertainment, connectivity, mobile services)
MSN (particularly important for messenger)
Baidu's results are overwhelmingly influenced by paid advertising campaigns, and ad spends with Baidu can reward a site's rankings throughout the results (even for keywords which are not specifically bid upon)
Baidu is generally the most popular engine not out of relevancy (in which it severely lags behind Google), but because of entertainment-related search content. For example, I was shown how virtually any copyrighted content (movies, music, games, files, software, etc.) could be accessed through Baidu for free. A common example given was that the Spiderman 3 movie was available for download from Baidu's movie results a week prior to its wide release in the US.
Google China is the preferred engine for business users, early adopters and those seeking serious research
Baidu has a far greater market share outside the major cities and among those with less education, online experience, and income
MSN is extremely popular on Mobile devices and for IM conversations
E-commerce is virtually non-existant in China, due to both the extremely low rate of credit card ownership (or other online payment system such as Paypal) and the absence of cost-efficient, reliable shipping
Google Maps is an extremely popular application in areas of China that have been accurately captured
Advertising revenue currently dominates the online economy in China; CPM-based ads are the most popular format, though Google's AdSense and other contextual programs also exist
Chinese users are far more likely to read and click on ads than North Americans or Europeans - there is considerbly less "ad-blindness" in China

If you want to view more pictures of the China Tour, please click here.

Posted by Jens Thraenhart in Industry Events at 10:27 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

The Long Tail by Chris Anderson

Thursday, July 12. 2007

Listen to this talk by Chris Anderson. Chris Anderson, the editor of WIRED and author of the "Long Tail" explores the four key stages of any viable technology: setting the right price, gaining market share, displacing an established technology and, finally, becoming ubiquitous. To demonstrate this trajectory, Anderson explores the evolution of the DVD player as it passes through each of these four tipping points, then offers specific examples of current trends in technology -- ranging from DNA sequencing to the hybrid -- to illustrate each stage of the game.

Posted by Jens Thraenhart in Trends at 10:30 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Many Marketers Still Forget What It Takes to Excel in the Online Space

Wednesday, July 11. 2007

I saw a great article in Ad Age by the CEO of Rubicon Consulting, who I wanted to share here.

It addresses the fact that many marketers still forget what it takes to excel in the online space. The burning question is:

Do you have a relevant web strategy? Or do you have a traditional marketing strategy with advertising, demand-generation campaigns and a PR program, with some web stuff added as an afterthought?

Continue reading "Many Marketers Still Forget What It Takes to Excel in the Online Space"

Posted by Jens Thraenhart in e-Marketing at 10:42 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)