Lois Sealey: Small Business Blog Interview

Lois Sealey of Home Base Holidays wrote back today with answers to my questions. Her blog talks about the business of trading your home with anothers for vacations. We featured them on May 9.

Pajama Market: How has the blog impacted your company?

Lois Sealey: The blog has enabled me to provide more regular and much more detailed information about home exchange which compliments the general information on the website. Another benefit is that the regular fresh content on the blog is indexed by search engines and helps give Home Base Holidays extra publicity in the increasingly crowded niche of the home exchange market. Also, although I aim to keep content on the blog closely focussed on the subject of home exchange vacations, the less formal format enables me to cover a slightly wider variety of subjects than does the website where I really don't want to include content not specifically about the service. This, in turn, means that the blog attracts a much wider range of visitors than does the website which is usually found by searches on key phrases related to home swapping.

PJ: What has the response been from your customers/clients?

LS: When I first introduced the blog in Home Swappers, my bi-monthly ezine for members and subscribers, in Sept 2004, I have to say that the response was a bit underwhelming, i.e. I don't think many really understood the concept of a blog and how it could be useful in providing more regular information on home exchange issues. Home exchange tends to appeal mainly to families with young children and older people so it may be that many in these groups take longer to accept new innovations. However, what I have found, is that mentions of blog posts (with links) in the newsletter increasingly attract members and subscribers to check out the blog. They still usually send feedback by email rather than leave comments on posts but that's fine - it's encouraging to see that many more are visiting the blog. Members are always pleased to see their contributions and home exchange offers included on the blog. The newsletter and blog compliment each other very well.

PJ: What types of things about your work day inspire you to write a post on your blog?

LS: My inspiration for posts come primarily from members' exchange offers (I make a note of anything I feel would make an interesting topic for a blog when checking new members' listings every day) plus many posts are based on comments and questions from members and enquirers. As I can sometimes spend much time answering a specific enquirer's questions, it's really useful when I can see that these questions/answers could be of general interest too. Recycling the same information as blog posts is quick and easy.

PJ: What have been the biggest surprises with your blog so far?

LS: One of the biggest surprises is that, when I check my blog stats, I often find that a large percentage of visitors have been searching on phrases totally unrelated to home exchange. Although, I'm sure, the majority of these clicked the link to the blog through curiosity (before moving on to find what they were really looking for!), I feel that, unlike the website, where the stats show most visitors have been searching on relevant phrases (i.e. they are already interested in home exchange), finding the blog for some visitors may be more like reading an article on home exchange in a newspaper (i.e. came upon it by chance but read it and found it of interest).

PJ: What blogging program do you use for the blog? Did you create this blog yourself? How do you like the program?

LS: TypePad. I created the blog myself and, although I know I haven't mastered all the features of TypePad, I find it easy to use (and the support staff have been helpful and quick to respond the couple of times I've had problems). I haven't used any other program so can't compare but I particularly like the facility in TypePad to set dates/times for posts to be published. I often use this to set a series of blogs to cover weeks when I'm away or will be too busy to compose and add regular posts.

Tags: house swapping | home swapping | home base holidays | travel the home exchange way | Lois Sealey