MahaloToDo

Hello--

I'm Brad, head of the Travel vertical at Mahalo. I came upon your request and have prepared two pages for you:

http://www.mahalo.com/Travel_Message_Boards
http://www.mahalo.com/Travel_Photography

Thank you for your interest, and if you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to contribute!

Mahalo!

Brad

13.11.2007 by BradMahalo

Wow, quick turnaround indeed! Posted that, went to bed, wake up to find them live; nice

I hope you are subscribed to the comments here as I do have some feedback, hehe. Both pages look good and have some real quality links.

Travel photography to start with then. Personally I think Trekearth should be one of the top 3. It's without doubt one of the best resources available for travel photographers.

I see from both those pages there is also a tendency to have Frommers, Fodors and Concierge in the top 7 regardless of how much quality those sites bring to the table for that specific travel related search (yes, these sites are great for travel overall, but for specific travel + x type searches). The link to Fodors in the top 7 for travel photography seems a little off compared to the others there for example. Likewise, on the message boards page, shouldn't the top 7 actually consist of active message boards? If you're looking for this kind of service, you'd certainly want to be able to get an answer to questions you post! Concierge's Europe forum has less than 500 total responses, probably because it's an afterthought on their site (and design is broken in FF). Similarly, how did Realtravel end up in the top 7? There's several forums that are WAY more active; Travellerspoint for example, but certainly also the travelblog.org, travelpod forum or aardvark forums.

14.11.2007 by Sam I Am

-part 2, darn 2000 character rule -
The top 7's in both the above cases (and I've seen this on other Mahalo groupings, like for example the 'travel blogs' heading on the message boards page) don't seem to follow one particular theme, so for example a guide on how to take travel photos is listed alongside collections of travel photos? For the travel blogs heading under message boards there are some weird choices there if you ask me. There's some great travel blogs, but then all of a sudden something like flycheapo.com. Even travelblog.org, which is a great site for travel blogging, doesn't fit the other sites in that list which are all individual travel blogs rather than a place to start a blog which houses thousands of blogs (like travelblog.org but there's several great places for that). I appreciate it's a hard job to discover the intent of the searcher, but to then have the some links (like the fodors one) ALSO be included further down the page under a separate heading 'travel photography tips' seems like overkill. Likewise, igougo being listed twice on the travel message boards page seems a bit much. They're more a travel community site than a travel blog I'd say. How could sites like Bootsnall/Virtualtourist/Travellerspoint even be missing from the Community heading?

Anyway, it's got to be a tough job choosing so I just thank you for the quick turnaround and hope some of the above leads to some improvements on those pages

14.11.2007 by Sam I Am

Hello Sam I Am--

Thank you for your response! I enjoyed your comments, and revised the serps accordingly. Remember, there is a "Recommend a link" option on every serp, so feel free to suggest any sites I may have looked over.

I am going to respond to your comments bit by bit, and thanks to the 2000-character limit, I will probably be posting several times:

"Travel photography to start with then. Personally I think Trekearth should be one of the top 3. It's without doubt one of the best resources available for travel photographers."

***TrekEarth is a good site, and has been moved up accordingly.

14.11.2007 by BradMahalo

"I see from both those pages there is also a tendency to have Frommers, Fodors and Concierge in the top 7 regardless of how much quality those sites bring to the table for that specific travel related search (yes, these sites are great for travel overall, but for specific travel + x type searches). The link to Fodors in the top 7 for travel photography seems a little off compared to the others there for example."

***I try to adapt the Top 7 to a variety of different approaches. Some people looking for travel photography might want tips on how to take better photos (hence, the Fodor's link), or may just want quick snapshots of a particular place. I use Frommer's and Concierge not only because they are trusted travel sites, but there are times when someone sees a photo and wants to know more about the location. With those sites, the information is already there, so I (hopefully) save users some time.

14.11.2007 by BradMahalo

"Likewise, on the message boards page, shouldn't the top 7 actually consist of active message boards? If you're looking for this kind of service, you'd certainly want to be able to get an answer to questions you post! Concierge's Europe forum has less than 500 total responses, probably because it's an afterthought on their site (and design is broken in FF). Similarly, how did Realtravel end up in the top 7? There's several forums that are WAY more active; Travellerspoint for example, but certainly also the travelblog.org, travelpod forum or aardvark forums."

***Excellent suggestion, Sam! I've changed the Top 7 considerably. If you have more suggestions for sites, use the "Recommend a link" option. I welcome any and all comments to improve a serp.

"The top 7's in both the above cases (and I've seen this on other Mahalo groupings, like for example the 'travel blogs' heading on the message boards page) don't seem to follow one particular theme, so for example a guide on how to take travel photos is listed alongside collections of travel photos?"

***Again, users going to a serp may want different things, so we try to cater to each of that. What your comment made me think, however, is that I should label each blog so people have a better idea of where they're going if they go to this blog or that blog. Thanks!

14.11.2007 by BradMahalo

"For the travel blogs heading under message boards there are some weird choices there if you ask me. There's some great travel blogs, but then all of a sudden something like flycheapo.com. Even travelblog.org, which is a great site for travel blogging, doesn't fit the other sites in that list which are all individual travel blogs rather than a place to start a blog which houses thousands of blogs (like travelblog.org but there's several great places for that)."

***Hopefully, the labeling eases the pain a bit. People may want different kinds of blogs for different reasons--deals, tips, reviews, etc.

"I appreciate it's a hard job to discover the intent of the searcher, but to then have the some links (like the fodors one) ALSO be included further down the page under a separate heading 'travel photography tips' seems like overkill."

***I see where you're coming from, but I think if people want to know more about taking travel photos, it doesn't hurt to have a "tips" section. Especially for people who scan through pages quickly without actually reading the content, if they are looking for "tips" and skip the Top 7 (it has happened), to have it listed again would only behoove the user. You're absolutely right, it is tough to satisfy every user and their individual intent, but we do our best to try. And of course, we welcome any help from the public who know about a specific site we have overlooked, like you have.

14.11.2007 by BradMahalo

"Likewise, igougo being listed twice on the travel message boards page seems a bit much. They're more a travel community site than a travel blog I'd say. How could sites like Bootsnall/Virtualtourist/Travellerspoint even be missing from the Community heading?"

***In all honesty, I always thought of BootsnAll as a travel-booking site, but you're absolutely right, it has a great forum. And of course, so is Travellerspoint.

"Anyway, it's got to be a tough job choosing so I just thank you for the quick turnaround and hope some of the above leads to some improvements on those pages "

***Thank YOU, Sam I Am, for helping us make these pages better. Wow. That sounded like something straight from a Dr. Seuss book.

Mahalo!

Brad

14.11.2007 by BradMahalo

You're a good man and quick too! Thanks for the response(s), even if this comment character limit obviously blows Then again, we might have been the first ever to add such long comments, hehe. I'll certainly let you know if I run into other sites that make good additions to either of those pages (and others on Mahalo that I've been using). I've suggested sites on a couple of other occasions and also had an answer within 24 hours. If Google managed that kind of customer service on their non paid products I'd have more faith in their Android/Opensocial systems LOL

14.11.2007 by Sam I Am

Hello Sam--

Yeah, this character limit is really ruining our communication here! HAHA!

Please feel free to check out any of our other Travel pages at http://www.mahalo.com/Travel

And the same goes for anybody else who is reading this long exchange!

Mahalo!

Brad

14.11.2007 by BradMahalo