Critical Success Factors of the Taiwan Tourism Blogs from the Viewpoints of Opinion Leaders

[[abstract]]Since the implementation of the two-day weekend policy for Taiwanese government employees, leisure travel on the island has been on the rise. In recent years, backpacking has gained popularity as well, a method that requires prior research and planning to meet the traveler’s personal needs. The criticality of researching travel-related information for backpackers directly resulted in substantial growth of various travel blogs online. After the rise of social media sites such as Facebook, even as many bloggers embraced the social networking sites, well-maintained travel blogs continued to rise in popularity, forming opinion leaders. This study focuses on Taiwanese travel blogs maintained by expert travelers, using professional questionnaire to examine the many facets of a such travel blogs, and using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to further analyze and summarize the factors that attribute to successful Travel Blog Management. The results show that the most important factor of a successful Taiwanese travel blog is website presentation, followed by community interaction , author characteristics, and use of technology. In the area of “website presentation”, this study shows that a good combination of text and graphics combined with up-to-date travel information may enrich the blog’s overall presentation. The recommendation is to strengthen the practical value of the travel information provided, and to focus on content enrichment. In the area of “community interaction”, a well maintained blog that has active user interactions often has stronger community bonds among the readers. And this user base could promote higher Click-through Rate (CTR) through frequent updates in the blog’s message board. In respect to “author characteristics”, a successful travel blogger must be highly enthusiastic about travel, enjoys sharing his or her experience, and devotes longer hours into managing the website and its uniqueness. This is reflected in the overall management of the travel blog, and in the site’s unique appeal to readers. For “use of technology”, a good use of search engine terms, combined with low-technical requirements on the blog’s users, can result in better use of the website. A site that utilizes technology well to enable user friendliness, its readers often benefit from better travel information absorption