Interview with Roger Taylor of Capital Reservations

Ok well I met with Roger Taylor who is the owner of Capital Reservations which is a travel company (with an online presence) that specialises in finding last minute accommodation for the corporate sector. I wanted to update this blog with the results of that interview. I would like to thank Roger for his time and allowing me to post the details of our interview on my blog.

Here are the questions I asked Roger and the responses.

* What were the reasons why you included blogging into your site in 2005?

At the time of starting Capital Reservations I was involved with the Brisbane Bullets basketball team. I had been speaking with one of the marketing people involved in the Brisbane Bullets and he had incorporated a Blog into the Brisbane Bullets site and he mentioned that it would be a good idea to incorporate it into mine. So I arranged for my IT person to set it up for me.

* How do you think the use of blogging has enhanced your company marketing, branding and public relations?

At first the blog site was setup by my IT person as more of an area to post comments on the site and didn’t really work well as a blog. It wasn’t until later when I incorporated blogger.com it became more effective.

* How often do you blog?

As much as I can. It changes but I try and get something on there every week. Sometimes it can be hard when we have so much work happening but I do try and keep it regular.

* What do you blog about?

When I blog it is more in response to service rather than to drive sales. I might blog about a venue I visited and how the experience was for me so clients can get a feel if that is the sort of accommodation place they would like to visit.

* Do you utilise other web 2.0 technologies with your company other than blogging?

With Capital Reservations I just use blogging but with one of my other sites to do with basketball I use blogging and twitter. I am keen on trying some new web 2.0 technologies.

* Are you aware of some of the other web 2.0 technologies?

I am aware of facebook, twitter and LinkedIn. I am not sure about any others but there would be more.

* Would you be interested in including other web 2.0 technologies to enhance your company marketing, branding and public relations?

Yes I am definitely keen on hearing about what some of these new technologies may offer. If it is something that could work then I am interested in trying them. I guess I would have to look into them first to see whether they would be a worthwhile venture.

Do you think that your use of Web 2.0 Technologies has been effective?

It has helped to increase traffic to the site which is great. I have been able to check Google analytics and comments left to see how effective it has been.

* Can you give any indication on Return on Investment (ROI) with your blogging?
I haven’t done enough with Capital Reservations to determine any real return on investment. I know with my other site I have definitely been able to generate traffic to the site using web 2.0.

Have you done any research with other competitors and what they are doing?
Yes I have looked at Wotif around certain peak dates and by using the status of their site I can determine how busy so areas may be.

What do you perceive you may use in the future?
I know that WOTIF is using Twitter but I am not sure whether I will be able to use it for the market that I cater to. I will definitely look into LinkedIn as that definitely sounds like one that is focused on developing business relationships.