Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts

Sunday, December 12, 2010

71% of Small businesses in the US still don't use Social Media


Social media has been great for our nude sunbathing business. I've been blogging for 4 years now. So many guests heard about us for the first time because of this blog. Also once Facebook allowed business pages to be "liked" that has also been a great way to tell everyone about nude recreation and The Terra Cotta Inn, Palm Springs, California. Also, we were the FIRST nudist resort to use twitter over 2 years ago.

It takes time to properly do social media. But, what I notice is those nudist resorts that use social media marketing hit or miss or not at all are struggling getting and retaining guests. Those that invest the time to use social media marketing wisely are very popular like us.

Here's the story:

"Majority Of Small Businesses Still Not Using Social Media

Discover relays disappointing stats

Facebook and Twitter are a part of many people's everyday lives, but lots of small business owners still aren't taking advantage of those potential "in"s. New data from Discover indicates that 71 percent of small businesses don't use social media for any sort of self-promotion.

Discover said in a statement, "In polls conducted in April and October of this year, the percentage of small business owners who are members of an online social networking community increased from 48 percent to 59 percent. But only 29 percent of all small businesses said last month that they have ever used social networking websites to promote their businesses."

...A separate profile can be useful for making a business more visible, though. Discover said, "36 percent of approximately 3,000 consumers told Discover that they would consider using a small business that they heard about through a social or business networking site, up from 31 percent in 2007."

News Tags: Marketing,"

For the full story Click here

Tom Mulhall
Terra Cotta Inn clothing optional resort and spa
Located in Sunny Palm Springs, California
Our resort site at: http://sunnyfun.com
Visit our Resort Facebook page at: http://bit.ly/TerraCottaInnFBPage

Sunday, September 27, 2009

6 Tips for successful nudist blogs


I have been blogging now for over 3 years. With both of my blogs, this one and the NSFW version Click here for NSFW version I get a lot of e-mails and comments. About 1000-1500 users per day see my blog.

In talking with new guests of our resort The Terra Cotta Inn clothing optional resort and spa, Palm Springs, CA, most have read our blog which go them interested in taking a vacation at our resort.

If you are thinking of doing a blog whether on nudism or some other topic, I thought this post was helpful. Here it is:

6 Tips for Customizing Your Small Business Blog


If you’re like most socially-savvy companies, your business probably has a blog. It’s a great way to connect with your customers, announce new products, and provide a human face to your company’s image...

A Few Key Tips

1. Install some top blog plugins:... While there are tens of thousands of plugins available on multiple platforms, a business blog should focus on search engine optimization (SEO), making the blog load faster, and making it easy for others to share blog posts via email, Twitter, and other social networks...

2. Integrate social media links and buttons: Don’t be afraid to integrate Facebook and Twitter on a business blog. It’s a standard practice and will help drive new visitors to your blog. Social media buttons make it easy for customers to tweet out your work, while adding links to the company’s Twitter and YouTube accounts will help bolster their numbers and improve their ranking in search.

3. Focus on simple designs, not bells and whistles: The focus of a blog should be on the content, not on widgets or sidebars or flashy designs...

4. Do show effort in the design, though: A corporate blog is also a chance to show off a human element of the company and to be creative...

5. Have your blog on your own web domain: Most companies have their blogs at blog.companyurl.com...

6. Don’t hide your “about” information: Assume that your average reader has never heard about your company. If you have that in mind, you want to be sure they can quickly find out more about you. Either have a paragraph at the top or on the side describing the company, or make the “About” page very prominent.

For the full article click here

Good luck with your blogging. It's lots of fun and lots of work.

And for those of you looking for a fun vacation here is my plug following top #6 above:

Never been to a clothing optional resort before? Not a nudist? No problem!

We are the most mainstream clothing optional resort in the US and are perfect for couples trying topless or nude sunbathing for the first time.

Give us a call at 800-786-6938 to make reservations or for more information.

Visit our site at http://sunnyfun.com

Follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/nudist_resorts

Become a Facebook friend at http://facebook.com/terracottainn

We hope to see you soon in sunny Palm Springs!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

95% of all blogs are abandoned

Everybody is so busy these days. It is rush, rush, rush this, Hurry, Hurry, hurry, that. Now this is perfect for the nudist resort industry as nudist resorts are the perfect way for people to de-stress and to relax. Much it makes it hard to find time to do fun things like posting on blogs.

Trying to maintain a blog is difficult. Here it is 10pm and this is my first chance all day to write on this blog. And I have missed almost a whole week because we have been so busy at our resort.

Well the NY Times just came out with an article saying 95% of all blogs that are started are abandoned. On this blog, my no nudity blog, I have almost 350 posts.

I hope everyone has been enjoying what I post. I always try to find interesting things that you don't always find on other nudist blogs. And of course I write about our nudist resort The Terra Cotta Inn.

Here is the story:
" Blogs Falling in an Empty Forest

“HI, I’m Judy Nichols. Welcome to my rant.”

...Thus was born Rantings of a Crazed Soccer Mom, the blog of a stay-at-home mother and murder-mystery writer from Wilmington, N.C. Mrs. Nichols, 52, put up her first post in late 2004, serving up a litany of gripes...

The post generated no comments.

Today, Mrs. Nichols speaks about her blog as if it were a diet or half-finished novel. “I’m going to get back to it,” she swears. Her last entry, in December of last year, was curt and none too profound...

Like Mrs. Nichols, many people start blogs with lofty aspirations...- Getting started is easy, since all it takes to maintain a blog is a little time and inspiration. So why do blogs have a higher failure rate than restaurants?

According to a 2008 survey by Technorati, which runs a search engine for blogs, only 7.4 million out of the 133 million blogs the company tracks had been updated in the past 120 days. That translates to 95 percent of blogs being essentially abandoned...

Judging from conversations with retired bloggers, many of the orphans were cast aside by people who had assumed that once they started blogging, the world would beat a path to their digital door.

“I was always hoping more people would read it, and it would get a lot of comments,” Mrs. Nichols said recently by telephone, sounding a little betrayed. “Every once in a while I would see this thing on TV about some mommy blogger making $4,000 a month, and thought, ‘I would like that.’ ”

Not all fallow blogs die from lack of reader interest. Some bloggers find themselves too busy — ...Others graduate to more immediate formats, like Twitter and Facebook. And a few — gasp — actually decide to reclaim some smidgen of personal privacy.

...“The Internet is different now,” she said over a cup of tea in Midtown. “I was too Web 1.0. You want to be anonymous, you want to write, like, long entries, and no one wants to read that stuff.”

Richard Jalichandra, chief executive of Technorati, said that at any given time there are 7 million to 10 million active blogs on the Internet, but “it’s probably between 50,000 and 100,000 blogs that are generating most of the page views.” He added, “There’s a joke within the blogging community that most blogs have an audience of one.”

...Many people who think blogging is a fast path to financial independence also find themselves discouraged. Matt Goodman, an advertising executive in Atlanta, had no trouble attracting an audience to his self-explanatory site, Things My Dog Ate, which included tales of his foxhound, Watson, eating remote controls, a wig and a $400 pair of Prada shoes.

... “I think I made about $20” from readers clicking on the ads. He last updated the site in November.

Mr. Jalichandra of Technorati — a blogger himself — also points out that some retired bloggers have merely found new platforms. “Some of that activity has gone to Facebook and MySpace, and obviously Twitter is a new phenomenon,” he said..."

Luckily I have had many guests tell me they enjoy my blog and I have had many people tell me how much money they have saved flying to our resort because I post airfare sales.

It is hard keeping up a blog. But, I intend to do so for many more years.

And if you are looking for a great place to vacation this summer, give us a call at 800-786-6938. We are the most mainstream clothing optional resort in the US and are perfect for couples trying topless or nude sunbathing for the first time.

Visit our site at http://sunnyfun.com

We hope to see you soon in sunny Palm Springs!

Friday, May 8, 2009

AANR has a blog


Blogging is one of the best ways to let people know what is happening in the world of nude recreation and at specific resorts.

We have had this blog for 3 years. We have a round 1000 people per day look at this blog. We used to average around 3-4,000 people per day read the blog until google decided to censure blogspot blogs that had nudity.

AANR, the American Association for Nude Recreation which is the national organization for nudists that help protect our nudist resorts has now decided to start a blog. It is located here: http://blog.aanr.com/

I congratulate AANR for doing this. Blogs are a major investment of time. However, they are one of the best ways to teach people about what you are selling. And yes, AANR is selling something. They are selling the concept that nude recreation and nude sunbathing are fun experiences.

We are both personally and corporately members of AANR. I recommend everyone join this fine organization.

Good job AANR.

Tom Mulhall
Terra Cotta Inn, Palm Springs, CA
http://sunnyfun.com
1-800-786-6938