Travel company gives bloggers free trips.

As those of you who have seen my “Ten Commandments of Social Media for the Travel Industry” already know, the list of Social Media Winners is growing fast and may soon overtake the Social Media Sinners category. Everywhere I travel there are new examples of social media savvy, from London’s Red Carnation properties to last weekend’s terrific ATIA (Alaska Travel Industry Association) Tweet-up.

Now here’s another shining Social Media Winner: Travel company YokmoK, which brilliantly uses social media to solve the pesky problem of unfilled space by inviting bloggers to travel free.

Here’s the scoop from their site:

You blog? Then travel free with YokmoK

Ask yourself the following questions:

• do I have a popular blog? (typically a popularity higher than 10,000)
• does my blog relate to travel, adventure, adrenaline sports, adventure travel, or similar?
• do I have quality content and update it regularly?

If you’ve answered YES to these questions, then wait no more ’cause you are entitled to travel FREE with YokmoK.

Why?

We’d love to have all our trips fully booked, the whole year, every year, but it just doesn’t happen, and some free spaces are available from time to time. It can be snowshoeing in the Swedish Lapland, hiking in the French Alps, or trekking in the Sahara desert. So if you are ready to jump on a last-minute plane, and blog before, during, and after the trip, then you have a real chance to travel for free with us.
How?

It’s very simple. Just send us an email to contact with the following information:

1. your name;
2. URL of your blog;
3. which trip, date, or sport you’re interested in (snowshoeing, hiking, bicycling, trips in August, all…);
4. a few sentences about yourself;
5. as subject line please put “I’m a blogger and I want to travel for free with YokmoK”.

The only nit I have to pick with YokmoK is its definition of blogger popularity. YokmoK defines “popularity” as those with 10,000 or more incoming links—relating to travel, adventure or adrenaline sports. As I’m a quality versus quantity gal, my vote’s for the blogger who genuinely engages with readers, delivers compelling and accurate information and uses other forms of social media — Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Youtube– to promote the blog. While being effective with social media is certainly still somewhat a numbers game, there are other factors such as engagement and journalistic standards that should count as well.

Springwise reports that If the blogger is available to participate, YokmoK will pay for all services included in the price for the corresponding trip. In exchange, the blogger is expected to share their experience of the trip, including at least four entries before the trip starts, one entry per day during the trip, and another four entries after the trip ends; each entry must include at least one direct link to YokmoK’s website.

So bloggers, are you packed?

Are You The Last Blog Virgin?

It’s a little like those kick-ass new commercials for Burger King’s Whopper Virgins: How far do you have to travel to find that singular soul who has never blogged?

According to a recent survey from popular blog network BlogHer, 36.2 million women actively participate in the blogosphere every week. Another survey lists 885,000 small-business blogs worldwide.  And the world of micro-blogging is exploding, with Twitter usage up 343% in the past year.

So what’s stopping you? Are you determined to be the last hold-out? Didn’t you know that BLOG actually stands for Better Listings On Google?

Now for the obligatory quiz:

Choose the statements you consider to be TRUE.

• I want to be viewed as an authority or expert in my field.
• Although I am no Stephenie Meyer, I like to write and love Spellcheck.
• I want to expand the reach of my business to a national and even a global audience.
• I’m all about authenticity. I want to cut through the marketing hype and be real.
• I’m reasonably tech-savvy, am online at least once a day and in general, am comfortable using the Internet.
• I’m frustrated with spam and email filters; I can’t get info through to my peeps.
• I am willing to commit to writing a new content-rich blog at least once a week.
• I want to be able to easily and frequently test new ideas for my business.
• Feedback is a good tool to improve my business. Bring it on!
• I know what blogs are and have a few favorite I read regularly, not just lolcats.com.
• I don’t want to have to ask my graphic or web designer every time I want to change or add something to my site.
• I want to build more traffic to my website. I built it; they didn’t come. Help!
• I want to build a media empire, one post at a time.

If you choose 3 or more as True, it may be time to bid adieu to your blog virginity.