DISQUS

Good one Alex
I was just reading a PR opinion piece which included the unfortunate phrase
"placing your press releases on strategic websites and blogs"
in Hotel Marketing.com.

http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/article...

Thanks Garri. I had forgotten about Folkstr, though it's a while since I stumbled on it.
I am not sure if Hans Kristian Løvdal sounds as if he is one of my countrymen :-) But I think he may have bought it from the original developers..

Great, I look forward to all the comments.

No, I meant tracking down the Holy Grail would be easy in comparison to finding a really good low cost hotel in London.
I know because I have often despaired of getting a reliable bolt-hole in London (while, funnily enough, I have a couple of Grails on my kitchen shelves right now).

Outstanding. Thanks Tony.

Thanks Mark
I guess I also might have trouble living and breathing the brand if it was, say, a caravan park in the West Midlands. However, I'd like to think that those travel companies which are a) successful and b) willing to open themselves up to the market like this have a good story to tell and I will have no trouble throwing myself into the task at hand.

Hi Garri
I will certainly use WordPress though not necessarily the multi user version.
As you can see from that example you gave, Typepad was my first choice when I helped Discover the World set up their blogs a couple of years ago but I much prefer WP now.
Please don't tell Clive his blogs look better than his main site. He's spent a lot of money on it!

Thanks Alex
First of all, I would not take on competing clients. I could happily have an upmarket hotel, an airline, a tour operator and a destination without worry of conflict.
And I am definitely not creating generic posts for auction. I am selling my time and experience to research and write original blog posts for each client and which tie in with their particular blog strategy.
It is something I did last year for a couple of (non-travel) clients. We started out talking about them doing it themselves but in the end, it made much more sense for me to do it for them. Consultancy is fine: but sometimes it's better just to roll your sleeves up and get on with the job.
Delighted to talk any time: I'll ping you a mail.

I think the travel editor was a bit peeved that Gawker etc suggested Paul Gogarty had his job.
Anyway, he's posted a response today and it doesn't look as if he has grovelled enough for his readership's taste:
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/travelog/2008/02/ed...

Among other things: "It says skins_blog in the url. This was put in as a working title, and we forgot to change it. My fault. No one from Skins approached me in order to get a bit of free publicity for the show."

Yes, that leaves the field clear for Gawker commenters to wade in
http://gawker.com/356615/the-guardian-hipster-t...

I know what you mean Kevin. And Guardian readers have leapt all over the (part time) Skins connection but at the moment I can't see the value to the brand of a teenage backpacker writing about getting a dodgy tummy in Thailand. I wonder if it's more likely the Guardian picked the url to give blog a cooler aura.

You deserve it Ameir - great work! Every time it starts I pause what I am doing - this is rapidly becoming the most peaceful moment of my working day.

I knew him! You are right Ken, he was christened, or at least named, Alistair Baba MacLean. The Wee Frees were furious.

Garri, your needs are highly suspect :-)
That's truly awful

Not lost; deliberately twisted for my own evil ends Martin :-)
I think it is one of the mock-up aircraft Ryanair keeps in its strippers' training facility.
Seriously, I think it is a Ryanair plane - and the photo might have been tweaked to really darken the blue of the seats - but it's been a while. These days I go EasyJet - the cabin crew might remain fully clothed for the duration but at least they fly from Glasgow Glasgow airport, rather than Glasgow middle of Ayrshire airport.

I am not sure they could afford me, Alastair, but I am prepared to talk.

That didn't look dangerous at all - and then I realised I am in the UK and your steering wheel is on the other side and... and...
Robert you are crazy! Please tell me that wasn't Milan in the back seat. Next time just duct tape the Nokia to your right ear and let it run. You're giving me palpitations.

Specially for the under five's and thanks, I suspect, to Yahoo's deep coffers, you can now type delicious without the dots and it resolves to del.icio.us automagically

And you can brush all those bits of leaves, dirt and dead hedgehogs off your trousers and get up off the road...

Thanks for commenting.
I am afraid, I can't offer a female perspective but one of my regular London hotel stops is Indian-owned and they are great people.

Hi Alastair!
The thing about Google's blog search is I am not pinging them in any way. They just seemed to find that post really, really quickly yesterday. Possibly installing Google Analytics helps.

Interesting! - that made me check back to my own first post on this blog in May 2005. Phew
http://www.thetravelprblog.com/2005/05/17/hell-...

And as I responded on the other one, I completely understand what you are saying but it would be hard to think of a more appropriate prize in the circumstances and it's always good to respond when people support your efforts.

Hi Alastair
I was trying to work out the Beeb's tone when I saw the first report. Maybe something like: "you are going to see this anyway, might as well come from us". They did turn it into a very effective promo for the programme but I am sure it's not one they really wanted to run.

I believe the award for information leading to finding Madeleine now stands at about two and a half million pounds. If that sort of sum does not lead to a breakthrough, I doubt if further fund raising would.
But thanks for the comments on this thread everyone.
Neil