Cheapflights
It’s not often that we can fly the flag for a British Corporate Blog, but we are raising it today for the UK online site, Cheapflights which has launched two blogs, both called “Flight News”, one for ‘over here’ and one for the US.
Cheapflights is an internet phenomenon, which has 4 million unique visitors a month, and last year sold deals worth £525 million through its website. It’s greatly helped by the fact that “cheap flights” is one of the most searched for phrases on the internet, coming not too far behind “sex” and “Harry Potter.” It collects together numerous travel deals for users to compare, and then to click through and buy from travel agents. It gets paid pennies per click, but there are a lot of clicks.
Although it was founded right at the start of the dot.com era, back in 1996, it was done in a fashion that is true to the spirit of blogging these days. Travel journalist John Hatt set it up from his attic, and shunned the temptations of venture capital, Champaign, and caviar, sticking doggedly to his “cheap” but useful formula.
Its current owners have wisely hired British Blogger Craig McGinty, who has featured here on our France Vietnam podcast. Craig is a professional blogger who moved to a French village and set up his“This French Life” blog. He started another blog about low cost airlines, and caught the attention of Cheapflights.
I asked Craig to put some background together in an email. I’m being a bit lazy (and truly, I’m pressed for time today) and I am just quoting him in full. In any case, Craig can say it better than I can:
“I was asked by Cheapflights if I would be interested in helping them set-up their own version covering both the UK/Europe and the US.
“So over the past few months we have been developing the site so that it fits into the ethos of Cheapflights which is to provide up-to-date information about flights so people can make informed decisions.
“Naturally the blog-style site is perfect for this as we keep an eye on new routes and services being launched, interesting news stories and offer travel tips so that people can get the best deals.
“And that is one of the beauties of running the site with blogging software: we are using Typepad, and you can write about deals an airline may only have available for a few days yet it can be on the site within minutes.
“I am hoping that people will also become comfortable with using the comment facility, for example it would be great for readers to tell others about restaurants to visit in Berlin if CheapFlights features a story about new flights to the city.
“I am writing and editing posts as we have people from within Cheapflights and from outside writing the range of stories that are appearing on the site.
“Over time I am keen to feature more travel articles, in-depth news pieces and interviews of people within the industry, maybe offering their own travel tips!”
“So we want the new site to act like an ‘honest broker’ and provide our readers with the latest news, the best deals and a chance for them to help fellow travelers.”
I’m really pleased to see a British company getting into the full swing of blogging, and Craig is an excellent choice to help them do it .
