I Blog
By Happy Hotelier
Guido J. van den Elshout
l
Author of http://www.happyhotelier.com
Owner of Haagsche Suites
July 12, 2009

Introduction
• Originally this presentation was made in the
Dutch language for the Dutch Day of the
2009 Enter Conference in Amsterdam,
January 30, 2009
• After a lot of procrastination, it took some
time and effort to translate it. Which I finally
did on June 15, 2009
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Caveats
• This is my first PowerPoint presentation ever. So
it may not be the best you’ve seen.
• I have learned from De Bono I have an
associative mind rather than an analytic mind. I
crave it because it enables me to stay creative.
• But I do recognize you might lose my meandering
thoughts. If so, please holler!
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Overview of this presentation
• First some of my backgrounds.
• Then a short history of my blog
Happy Hotelier
• Finally some techniques, tools and Do’s and
Don’ts when blogging
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Background summary
• 1976: Law, Rotterdam Erasmus University.
• 1978: Specialization in tax law, Leiden University.
• 25+ years practicing international tax law.
• 1996: CEO family business (oprating since 1895).
• 2000: Start renovating townhouse as small
luxurious hotel
• 2002: Opening Haagsche Suites
• 2004: Start blogging in the Dutch language as co
editor: Weekendhotel Blog
• 2006: Start blogging in the English language with
Happy Hotelier
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Family Business1
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Family Business 2
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Family Business 3
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Family Business 4
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Family Business 5
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Family Business 6
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Family Business 7
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Family Business 8
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Family Business 9
The Family Business’ main activity was and is
building and refurbishing a variety of residential
properties in over 110 years. It gives me an eye
for:
• History
• Architecture
• Design
• Processes from design to finished product
• Fotography
• Detail
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Family Business 10
Under my supervision the Family Business:
• Renovates many residences
• Both from the own portfolio and third party owned
When we can buy the home adjacent to my own
home in 1999:
• We get the idea to create Haagsche Suites
• Renovation starts in 2000, Opening is October
2002
Introducing you now to Haagsche Suites:
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Haagsche Suites 01 Front
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Haagsche Suites 02 Front
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Haagsche Suites 03 in short:
• The Siamese twin of our own townhouse.
• Only 3 suites in stead of 6 to 8 small rooms.
• Each suite individually styled and appointed.
• In harmony with its historic look and feel.
• All modern comfort provided for.
• The luxe of a 5***** hotel.
• When we started this, we knew of only one
example in the Netherlands.
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Haagsche Suites 04 Salon
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Haagsche Suites 05 Suite 1
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Haagsche Suites 06 Suite 1
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Haagsche Suites 07 Garden
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Haagsche Suites 08 Suite 2
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Haagsche Suites 09 Suite 3
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Haagsche Suites 10 More than a Hotel
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Haagsche Suites 11 - More than a
Hotel:
• Private dining (catered)
• Photo shoots for fashion and products
• Book presentations
• Product presentations
• TV productions
• Training and workshops
• Meetings
• Jewelry Parties
• Baby shower parties
• And so on and so fort.
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Haagsche Suites Summarizing
• In stead of being “the stranger who cuts the Sunday
Roast” I’m now doing this together with my wife.
• Marketing the product has its own difficulties.
• From the start “Worth of Mouth” is and was our main and
strongest means of marketing.
• Those who dream of starting a similar venue I suggest to
contact us first to have an in depth discussion of the “Inn's
and Out’s”
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Internet – Search the drop 1
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Internet – Search the drop 2
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Internet – Search the drop 3
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Internet – Search the drop 4
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Internet – Search the drop 5
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Internet – It’s all about being visible
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200,000,000
blogs
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2/13/2009

Internet - Summary
Previous photos were meant as analogy:
Internet is like an ocean.
Your own activity in this ocean is nothing more than a drop
in that ocean.
The photo’s demonstrate that you need a lot of effort to be
found and seen and even then you will always been seen
only marginally.
The same applies to one blogger between over 200,000,000
bloggers….
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Happy Hotelier 01
From here on I will give you a bit of advice per slide based on my own
experience.
I was fortunate getting invited to blog on the Weekendhotel Blog
The blog I co author and which enabled me to get hands on
knowledge and experience of blogging and Wordpress.
If you are not sure what you want to blog about, always a good idea
just to start as guest poster or start a blog of your own at one of the
free platforms.
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Happy Hotelier 02
One should realize that once one starts
blogging one will always have to continue
blogging.
No sense in starting and discontinuing. Then it is better not to start at
all! I got addicted myself: See the next picture
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Happy Hotelier 03
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Happy Hotelier 04
Just be yourself.
Only very talented imposters are able to pretend to be somebody else
than they really are. One of my funs in blogging is meeting fellow
bloggers. No bigger disappointment when they turn out not to be what
they write to be. In addition: I myself always first click on the About tag
to know who the person behind a blog is. So tell something about
yourself.
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Happy Hotelier 05
Be Open and honest
No place where you will more likely be found out than the internet.
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Happy Hotelier 06
Be Good Humored
If you’re not able to laugh about your self. Nobody else will!
You’ll need your humor if somebody disappoints you!
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Happy Hotelier 07
Just give your own views.
Everybody else's views can be found on the web.
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Happy Hotelier 08
Post about matters that you are
knowledgeable and passionate about.
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Happy Hotelier 09
Don’t be shy to repeat your favorite themes
and subjects.
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Happy Hotelier 10
One of the most difficult requirements:
Easily readable!
No mistakes in the facts and use your spell
checker!
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Happy Hotelier 11
3 to 7 Posts per week is more than enough.
Don’t overdo it!
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Happy Hotelier 12
The ideal format for a good post is 3 alineas
and one photo.
I don’t seem to get that right :-)
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Happy Hotelier 13
Look for a couple of good examples of blogs
For me the blogs of Mr and Mrs Smith and Bill Marriott are good
examples of blogs for hoteliers.
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Happy Hotelier 14
Visit fellow bloggers in your niche and
comment sensibly.
But Don’t overdo it!
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“Social media is
about people
having
conversations
Online”
2/13/2009

Happy Hotelier 15
Good Titles and relevant Keywords is what it is
all about.
Try to imagine what your readers are looking for in and expecting from
your blog. And catch them with one phrase only!
The following picture is a wordl collation of keywords taken from my
blog at a certain stage.
Mmm: I tend to cover too many subjects. I know!
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Happy Hotelier 16
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Happy Hotelier 17
Make a blog easily navigable. A good blog has
a good archive. Do realize that old posts are
valuable for the “long tail ” traffic.
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Happy Hotelier 18
Don’t worry: People will start to notice you after some
time.
In my own case I got noticed by three guys reasonably early.
With each of them I have developed a very friendly relation ever since
and I’ve met them on several occasions.
Later many more guys and galls followed.
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Happy Hotelier 19
Use a community photo sharing site like Flickr
or Picasa to upload the photos you publish.
They are communities in themselves and
when carefully tagged and described the
images bring you substantial additional traffic.
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Happy Hotelier 20
I have used tumblr and I’ve used the
Quickpost WP plug in for fast copying and
pasting interesting material into my blog,
recently however I have abandoned them in
favor of more authentic and shorter content.
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Happy Hotelier 21
Use Twitter and Twitfeed to build a community
and point them to your content. Again do it by
dialogue rather than by broadcasting only!
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Happy Hotelier 22
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Happy Hotelier 23
Chose two to three other social sites and show
involvement. (More sites you won’t be able to
magage)
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Immerse yourself in the
conversations.
2/13/2009

Happy Hotelier 24
Don’t make too much noise!
This in respect to two issues:
Most of your readers visit your site during working hours.
Even if they visit you during their leisure hours, they might
prefer their own music over your good taste. My advise is no
music on your site!
Secondly do not overly repeat yourself too much. Never use
capitals only. Prevent others seeing you as a spammer!
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Happy Hotelier 25
Cooliris is a tool for photo browsing you can’t
without in my opinion
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Happy Hotelier 26
Woopra is an excellent tool for your blog’s
statistic information.
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Happy Hotelier 27
Webkut is a good tool to grab browser screens
even if they are in flash
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Happy Hotelier 28
Ethics - Journalism - Paid content
Just a hint. I could fill a whole presentation
with these subjects only 
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Happy Hotelier 29
Syndicate your content wisely:
Again: Just a hint at a subject for a whole
presentation in itself 
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Remember:
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Happy Hotelier End
Thank you for your attention!
Blogging is Fun!
Read Happy Hotelier
Credits:
Pictures borrowed from Marta Z Kagan
Blogging at Bonafide Marketing Genius
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