For the past two months, some of you may have noticed ads for companies such as cruise lines appearing on my site. That’s because in November, I signed a contract with my old employer USA TODAY to join their Travel Alliance.

How does that work? According to the official release put out today:

“This alliance provides our audience with a unique mix of our original content and content from premier travel sites and blogs chosen by USA TODAY Travel’s editorial staff. We are selecting travel partners that help us expand our offering in those niche categories our readers are most passionate about.  As part of the relationship, we also expose USA TODAY’s content and premium advertisers to our partners’ deeply-engaged audiences,” said Victoria Borton, general manager of Travel for USA TODAY.

In English, that means that USAT sells ads for my site and I get part of the profits. What I like about the deal is that my blog posts are automatically syndicated on USA Today’s Travel site (travel.usatoday.com), meaning that I have access to about the same audience online that I had when I worked at the paper.

Another thing you might notice: I now have a widget on my sidebar where headlines from USA TODAY travel section automatically appear. Those stories are written by bloggers such as Today in the Sky’s Ben Mutzabaugh and Hotel Check-In’s Barb DeLollis, as well as USAT staffers Laura Bly and Jayne Clark. Collectively, they are some of the best travel reporters in the business and I’m proud to have their writing on my site.

So that’s the scoop. Back to our regularly scheduled travel program

USA TODAY Travel Alliance: I’m All In! is a post from: Chris Around The World: A Journalist's Travels on the Road

Last year, the group – led by Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby, Beth Whitman of Wanderlust and Lipstick, Michelle Duffy of Wandermom and Pam Mandel of Nerds Eye View - raised nearly $30,000 to build a school in Preah Vihear, a rural area in northern Cambodia. Because Passports With Purpose reached more than double their goal of $13,000, they were also able to provide the kids there with a school nurse, clean water, and at least one complete meal a day.

LAFTI building project, courtesy of http://meerashanti.blogspot.com/

This year, PwP is setting its sights on India. At last night’s kickoff, sponsored by SCOOT (Seattle Consortium of Online Travel), the organizers told us more about the 2010 fundraiser recipient, Land for Tillers’ Freedom (LAFTI), a non-profit organization dedicated to changing the conditions of the Dalit Caste, India’s poorest of the poor.

Dalit home, before LAFTI (courtesy of LAFTI.net)

David Albert, a board member of LAFTI’s U.S.-based non-profit branch, Friends of LAFTI, told us about the dismal conditions experienced by the Dalit caste, also known as the “untouchables.”At one time, a Dalit was not allowed to let their shadows fall upon a non-Dalit caste member, and employers threw coins at them out the window rather than risk contamination by handing them money. The Dalits were segregated in huts built of mud and straw outside of main villages and foraged for food; people considered roasted water rat a delicacy, Albert said.

LAFTI’s founder, a woman named Krishnammal, is dedicated to building real homes for this landless group. About $2,000 in donations can build a home, Albert said (the construction is partially subsidized by the government and some Indian interests). If PwP meets its goal of raising $50,000, it can build an entire village.

Dalit home, after LAFTI (courtesy of lafti.net)

Want to get involved? Here’s how the PwP process works: Each participating blogger secures a prize (either travel related or non) for the fundraiser from a vendor. Readers can bid on prizes by making $10 donations for the items they want. Judging by last year’s results, organizers said, the money can flow in quite fast, particularly when prizes involve trips to Belize or hotel stays.

(PwP could also be a good avenue for people who are trying to map out their 2010 tax deductible donations. I know that my company matches personal charitable donations so I hope to steer a little bit of that corporate largesse their way).

In the next few months, bloggers will be searching for prizes to give away. For those PR folks out there who read this blog, this could be a great opportunity to connect your client to active social media exposure (because you know this group is going to tweet/Facebook/Stumble/blog the heck out of it!) Sponsorships are also available for any companies out there who want big time exposure in the travel blogosphere.

To sign up, bloggers should visit the Passports With Purpose website. The drawing starts in November and runs through December.

(I’m excited to participate; last year, I wasn’t in a position to get involved in anything remotely resembling activism. I’m glad that’s changed. As Michelle Duffy of Wandermom said last night, sometimes it’s good for bloggers to get out of their me-me-me world and participate in something aimed at the greater good).

Passports with Purpose 2010: Travel Bloggers Raising Money Together is a post from: Chris Around The World: A Journalist's Travels on the Road

I’m packing, again.

No news there. In the past six months since I’ve left USA TODAY, I flung myself full force into the out-of-a-suitcase life of a travel writer.

And hell yeah, it’s been fun. I went on two small ship sailing cruises throughout the Caribbean, dined at four-star Michelin restaurants in Paris and explored the world near and far, from Israel to Ohio’s Hocking Hills. I took press trips, for better or worse, something that I had never encountered before from my well-funded perch within the mainstream media. I received spa treatments and hot air balloon rides and overnight stays in some of the world’s nicest hotels. Nothing sucked there.

I also learned more than I could ever imagine. From my readers, Facebook friends and Twitter followers, I discovered that communication is a two-way street, that crowd-sourcing can work, as long as you cultivate the right crowd. More than ever, I’m convinced that journalism as I knew it has fundamentally changed, that the old business models of delivering information are doomed to fail and those of us who came up in the field need to adapt or get out of the way, like yesterday. Sometimes you need to be on the outside to see things straight.

One of the lessons learned: I am not wired to be a freelancer. I missed having colleagues. I missed having a steady paycheck. I missed being part of a larger team, working together on projects that had the potential to make a big impact. While some writers relish the freedom of the entrepreneurial lifestyle, I found it draining and depressing. That’s a character fault, and I admire greatly those who make it succeed.

On Monday, I start a new full-time job at Microsoft. I’m going to be a writer on the Windows team, helping consumers better understand, appreciate and use MS software. It’s a multi-platform gig, for an international audience. It’s going to use all the skills that I developed as a journalist – beat reporting, editorial judgment, reaching readers where they live – and introduce lots of new ones. I’m excited to take it all in.

It means moving to Seattle, thus the packing. I hadn’t planned on living in three major U.S. cities in less than a year, but hey, sometimes opportunities surprise you. I’ve worked in every area of the country except the Pacific Northwest, so I’m looking forward to exploring the region. And yes, I have heard that it rains; I believe a light box will be in my future.

Will I miss the newsroom? Of course I will. I’ve never worked anywhere except one, for the past 20 years. But let’s be honest: the quality of life within most newsrooms has radically diminished over the past five years. Long before my exit, I saw good people forced out and benefits being cut and editorial decisions made for the wrong reasons. And at the end, the profession acted like a bad boyfriend toward me. No one wants to be the woman who goes back to a bad boyfriend.

And what about this travel blog? I’m going to keep it going. You’ll see me at TBEX later this month and SATW in Germany in October and in other places where travel writers, editors and bloggers gather. I’ve come to love blogging, sharing the personal joys and travails of my experiences with others. That won’t change, even as my job title does. Journalism as a hobby? It could be the next, next thing.

See you on the road!

The next, next thing: My new job at Microsoft, in Seattle is a post from: Chris Around The World: A Journalist's Travels on the Road

I felt lucky to be included in that definition. Of those of us on the panel, which included Kara S. Williams of The Vacation Gals, Johnny Jet and Rich Beattie of Travel + Leisure.com, I definitely have the smallest audience, even if I had the most traditional media experience.

As I wrote earlier in the year, my relationship with public relations professionals has evolved over time. I came away from the conference believing that the public relations community has embraced new media at a faster clip – and more enthusiastically – than the traditional media community. There are a lot of journalists out there who would be stunned at how sophisticated online marketing has become

Of course, from a blogging point of view, things look a little different. For those who have become successful in the blogging world, the outreach efforts that PR people have made seem haphazard at best, and occasionally insulting at worst. The “push” model that dominated interactions with mainstream media for years simply doesn’t work with bloggers, who value relationships and conversation more.

Here are a few takeaways off the top of my head from the conference. I’d love to hear other people’s take on the issue.

For PR professionals:

1. Educating your clients has to be the priority. During the conference, I talked to several professionals who would love to work with bloggers, but the powers-that-be on their accounts still don’t see the value. Some of the presentations at the conference proved that real-life success stories are out there. Educate, then emulate, perhaps on a smaller scale so you have some results to bring into meetings.

2. Realize that the economics of freelance writing has changed. A few people voiced concerns that it seems that bloggers are just out for freebies. The reality is that print outlets have cut back their freelance budgets, and the amount of money that writers are receiving for stories has diminished (Demand Media, which now provides travel content to USA TODAY, pays its writers between $10 to $15 a story. That’s less than you can make at a temp job). So even established freelance writers are angling for better comps, if only to make their work financially viable.

3. Blogging is niche marketing in the extreme. Kara made the point that not all blogs are created equal. It’s so true. There are so many blogs out there, each with a different focus and a different audience. That’s a tough research hurdle, but it also means that you can target your outreach very specifically to consumers who might actually stay at your property or visit your destination. And remember that blogger content lives on in SEO for a long time.

4. Focus on the environment and the conversation, not the numbers. I asked one PR rep why she had invited me on one particular trip, as my blog  is on the newer and smaller side. She told me that she liked the look of the blog, as well as the atmosphere that I had cultivated with the comments (the fact that many of my readers are other media types was also a factor). This is why you should always READ the blog thoroughly before starting a conversation. (Not reading someone’s blog is the number one complaint that I’ve heard from other bloggers). 

5. You can influence the reach of online content. Bloggers love it when you repost, tweet or stumble their posts. Many of the PR people who are active on Twitter, such as Angela Beradino (@CoTravelGirl) and Meg Nesterov (@thenotoriousmeg), and Facebook (props to Amy Walters Weirick) understand this. More eyeballs on my blog is good for me AND you, if I’m writing about your property or destination. It’s a perfect place for bloggers and PR people to work together.

For Bloggers:

1. Bloggers still have a reputation for amateurism, which in some cases is well deserved. I’ve witnessed some behavior from bloggers on press trips this year that would make your hair curl. The more professional we become, the more seriously people will take us. So please think twice before you indulge in counterproductive – or illegal – behavior.

2. It can’t just be about the freebies. Keep in mind that ROI rules the day in the PR world. Your foremost question when you go into a trip should be, “How are you going to add value to the equation on behalf of your readers?”, not “How much swag can I get?”

3. Understand how the old model worked. Yes, the world has changed. Traditional media is less relevant (irrelevant?). The old way of doing business doesn’t work. Blah blah blah. You still should be aware of what came before, if only so you understand where the PR people you are working with are coming from. At the largest news organizations, freebies still aren’t allowed and it can take up to a year for a short and breezy placement. Consider how scary it can be for a destination to encounter bloggers who speak their mind, who post and tweet their immediate impressions and elaborate on the smallest details. It’s much harder to control that kind of message so PR people are taking a leap of faith when they enter the fray.

4. Marketing needs to be more sophisticated. Gary Arndt of Everything-Everywhere , which garners the highest audience by far of any independent travel blog, has drawn up a marketing PDF for his blog that rivals the rate sheets put out at a magazine. It’s professional, sophisticated and written in language that PR professionals understand. He’s speaking at TBEX next month, and I hope he talks more about it.

5. Continue to organize and push the envelope. I was still at USA TODAY last year when Kim Mance organized the first TBEX (Travel Blog Exchange) conference in Chicago. I remember reading the tweets and thinking that we at the paper could learn from the entrepreneurial mindset that drives the blogging community. I can’t wait for the second TBEX in New York later this month. Even though travel blogging will remain a secondary career for me, I know that I’ll learn a lot from the bloggers who are leading the community – and that their innovation will appeal to PR professionals as well.

My full presentation can be found at slideshare.net, another tool that I discovered at the conference.

This is a conversation that should continue, particularly as we head into TBEX, so please leave your thoughts and insights below.

The PR/Blogger Relationship: Notes from PRSA Travel and Tourism Conference is a post from: Chris Around The World: A Journalist's Travels on the Road

So what do you do when you run a small-town pharmacy with a name that instantly inspires smirks and giggles?

If you’re Katie Butt, the third-generation owner of Butt Drugs in Corydon, Indiana, you embrace the joke – and allow masters of viral video to come in and make a commercial.

Rhett & Link,  a North Carolina-based musical comedy team that specialize in web videos, run a campaign funded by Microbilt Corporation called “I Love Local Commercials.” To enter, a business must be nominated on the website, ILoveLocalCommercials.com. Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal then go through the submissions and select the videos that they want to create.

As the duo said in their behind-the-scenes Butt Drugs video (below), choosing Butt Drugs as a subject was a no-brainer. “There’s a place called Butt Drugs and people love it. ‘Nuff said,” the duo wrote on their blog. Can’t argue with that.

The campaign has brought new recognition to tiny Corydon, a historic town in the south-central part of the state mostly known as Indiana’s First Capital. Since the Butt Drugs ad first aired on YouTube in early March, tourists have been stopping by the Harrison County town, just to see the place for themselves. Sales of “I Love Butt Drugs” T-shirts are going through the roof, and the jingle has appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show and Carson Daly. The pharmacy, founded by Katie Butt’s grandfather William “Blackie” Butt in 1952, has more than 1,800 fans on Facebook (that’s more than half the population of Corydon!)

It’s how the best tourism marketing is done these days. I still can’t get the jingle out of my head.

Tourism Marketing Genius: Corydon, Ind.’s Butt Drugs is a post from: Chris Around The World: A Journalist's Travels on the Road

On newspaper city and suburban news desks, where I spent the first 14 years of my career, we called them “flacks,” derogatory meaning intended. To a news reporter on deadline, a PR person was, if not the enemy, then certainly not a friend. They were the gatekeepers standing between you and the mayor or the police chief or the school superintendent, the tricksters who parceled out glib soundbites to complex questions, the stonewallers who stalled your public records request.

When I moved into features, the give and take became less antagonistic. PR people scored my reporters crucial invites to Fashion Week, for example. They fed our gossip columnist celebrity sightings and engendered good will with chocolate. Yes, newspapers have swag policies but here’s a tip – if you’re hungry, walk by the features department. There’s bound to be some kind of product sample available for noshing – and if the PR person is smart, they’ve sent something sweet or caffeinated to fuel the deadline rush. 

In travel writing, even at the pinnacle of USA TODAY, public relations people are even more involved. While we didn’t take press trips (most newspapers do not), the reporters and editors regularly gleaned story ideas through their in box, especially items on deals and promotions. For bloggers, who require a steady stream of copy, the relationship can be even more symbiotic.  

While this may make news purists queasy, the shining light for travel writers is that, generally, PR people in the travel field are easy to like. They’re outgoing, as anyone who has been to an SATW conference knows. They generally enjoy their jobs, although perhaps not so much this past year during the travel downturn. And, as I’ve learned through participating occasionally on Bulldog Reporter panels, they are open to guidance from journalists and bloggers so everyone’s lives can be a little easier.

On the eve of my first press trip, I did an interview with Bulldog Reporter about what bloggers need from PR people. As I prepped, I put the question to Twitter and got some interesting feedback:

@theseboots: 1 Don’t spam me with unsolicited bumpf. 2. Connect with me BEFORE you start sending material. 3. Read my blog! 4. Don’t send me “pre-written” blog posts–that’s not how good blogs work. 5 Read my disclosure statement 6. Work together!

@rtwdave. I think it would go a long way to be familiar with/read the blog you want to work with

@EverywhereTrip I get angry because the only contact I have from most PR people is getting spam press releases

@AEEvans. Free, unlimited wi-fi, a long-haul ticket to somewhere nobody else has written about before, doughnuts

And, on the PR side:

@peoplesink I want to know, up front, how they’d like to work with PR folks as everyone’s different. I see alot of angry blogger posts.

@cfinjer For Pitching- feedback! ‘No’ can be a great response, I’d rather learn what works/doesn’t for next time.

@mpaynor Transparency on both ends.

What I told reporter Frank Zeccola was along the same lines of what I said on a panel when I was still USAT’s travel editor. Let me add the caveat that MOST good PR people do this stuff anyway: 

1. Know the outlet. Just as cookie-cutter pitches never worked at USAT, a pitch that ignores a blog’s primary focus and demographic will never fly.
2. Connect in a way that doesn’t waste time. At USAT, I hated receiving phone calls, and much preferred email. Same holds true now. I think most writers and editors feel the same.
3. Make your pitches memorable and let the writer know why it’s news, now.  
4. Treat bloggers the same that you’d treat a regular travel writer. Don’t assume that they are less experienced or less responsible to their readers – and to their bottom line. For me, it’s not enough to go on a trip, even if all expenses are paid. I need to figure out how to sell it. The blog is a business, not a hobby.
5. Reach out on Twitter and other social networking tools and become part of the travel community. For me, Twitter has made a huge difference in my business relationships. I will never forget the support I received during my layoff – much of it from PR people. 

As for bloggers, well, I haven’t been one long so I’m not as cognizant of how most conduct their business. Again, I’m sure most follow these guidelines anyway.  

1. Be professional. Goes without saying, of course.
2.  Think before hitting send. Yes, your readers want your impressions – but how does your experience fit into the larger picture? Is it typical or an aberration? Maybe making a phone call or doing an interview – journalism! – would clarify your post. 
3. Consider posting a disclosure statement, a code of conduct or demographic intent on your blog. This can help PR people understand what market you are reaching, what kind of material you are interested in and what you can or cannot accept.
4. Don’t be defensive when PR folks ask for your blog’s analytics (I’m still working on this one). They need to know what kind of audience you reach so they know what kind of investment to make. It’s nothing personal.
5. Realize that blogs – while a great way for PR people to reach niche markets – are still not the gold standard. Again, it’s nothing personal. I’m fully aware that most of the people who wanted to talk to me when I was USAT travel editor want nothing to do with my blog. There’s no point in getting angry about it, and I’d rather use my energy making my blog a great experience and resource for readers. If they come, the PR people will follow.

Would love to continue the discussion. Any PR tweeps want to chime in? Or bloggers?

The PR/blogger relationship is a post from: Chris Around The World: A Journalist's Travels on the Road

I’m not going to get into the specifics of the call, as it was 90 minutes long and I know that Bulldog makes the transcripts available to participants. My basic message was that PR people should think more about the digital outlets that publications now have – such as Today in the Sky, Hotel Check-In and the Cruise Log, which USA TODAY run – instead of focusing solely on print. I also outlined a few pitches that worked, talked about what makes a good press release and commented on how PR professionals can use social media such as Twitter to build relationships.

Any PR people out there who read this blog are welcome to ask me further questions. And if you are curious about the social media angle, feel free to follow me on Twitter. I’m @CAroundTheWorld,

And if you’d like me to speak to your organization about this or similar topics, just drop me a line.

Bulldog Reporter: Tips for PR pitches is a post from: Chris Around The World: A Journalist's Travels on the Road