Analysis of Effective Digital Communication in Travel Blog Business Models

Abstract

The tourism industry has been affected dramatically by the appearance of the Web 2. This research aims to perform a clear and measurable evaluation of a varied sample of ten of these travel blogs and their application of the Web 2.0 attributes in order to present a potential set of guidelines to be applied by future blogs. The study is based on an in depth comparative analysis of various metrics related to the blogs’ profile, content, website performance/usability, social media, and marketing usage, with the help of different tables that were created for each of these sections. The results are later combined with the expert opinion of five different travel, journalism, and/or digital communication professionals. It is anticipated that travel blogs that operate as businesses utilize the Web 2.0 tools and informative attributes not only in their content, but also in their distribution, design, and digital ecosystems.