It’ll be years before the victims of this disaster recover, if at all. But, as we can’t unring that bell (or in this case, put the oil back in the pipe), we have to focus on what we can do to facilitate recovery for the lovely coastal towns whose beaches and reputations were stained by this disaster.

If you’ve got marketing dollars, now is the time to spend them.

Your tourism, visitor’s bureau, local or regional website needs to be addressing all the wonderful features of your town and reminding vacationers that you’re still open for business.  If you’ve got local photographers, invite them to submit new photos and then get those photos out through Flickr, Facebook and Twitter.

Build a social media campaign, like this one run by the Jamestown Foundation that encourages past visitors to talk about their vacations and events. If you’ve got a YouTube channel, so much the better. Link to vacation videos that show your sparkling beaches, your lovely shops, your friendly locals and fantastic restaurants. Need some inspiration? Check out Currituck County, North Carolina. Now is an excellent time to invest in a pay-per-click campaign that helps users reconnect with your town or find you for the first time.

Family vacations, reunions, honeymoons and holidays are all still happening. Make sure these people know that good things are still happening at your place, too.

Melissa Baumann is a Search Marketing and Tourism Specialist as well as a seasoned world traveler.

So you’ve realized that writing articles for your tourism Web site is a major contributor to site traffic, but you aren’t sure what to start writing about. Constantly coming up with blog ideas can be tiresome, and it can interfere with your already busy day-to-day routine. When blogger’s block kicks you when you are down, here are a few ideas to help generate blog ideas.

• Bragging rights. Has your travel agency or tourism board been recognized with any awards lately? Your blog is a great place to list those in as much or little detail as you wish. Tourists will look forward to seeing your great traits in action, and you have the opportunity to put something on your virtual refrigerator door and be proud of your accomplishments. Blogging is a great outlet for this rather than a stuffy press release to a media outlet.
• Coming attractions. What festivals or conventions are coming to your neck of the woods? By showcasing them, you will have the opportunity to throw out the welcome mat with a simple article on your Web site. This also looks great to all tourists because you will show your hospitality to all future groups.
• Themed days. No one says you have to blog everyday, but it’s nice to know you will always have an entry on a certain day. Having a certain theme to go by for a certain day or days of the week will continuously generate content. Think of “Follow Friday” for Twitter, but directed toward your destination. “Saturday Shopper” could be an entry posted every Saturday, featuring a new retail shop each week. Alliteration, of course, isn’t necessary, but the idea has no limits.
• Steal deals. Is a hotel or resort in your area boasting incredible product or travel packages? Write about these deals for your future tourists. Be careful, though. Don’t start a trend with some local businesses and not promote others.
• Field tourist questions. Leave a question box somewhere on your blog and get around to it every now and then. If someone wants to know where the closest amusement parks are in your area, you can write an entry about that, posting directions and maps, as well as offering other places of interest your destination has to offer. By addressing each future tourist in your blog entry, you will build instant rapport with them.
• Post pictures. Sometimes, there just isn’t anything to write about. Why babble on about something your future visitors may not care about? For times like these, consider a photo slideshow of a recent event, or of local flair. A few sentences can narrate these pictures, and voila: instant blog post.

Even though the ROI is great, you may think that blogging is just too much effort. Hang in there. With many social bookmarking opportunities and a soapbox to brag on your destination, you will begin to see results in a matter of time.

If you find yourself unable to put the effort into writing, let us write for you. With trained SEO travel writers on staff, Simple Tourism has the writing skills and social media knowledge your site needs to attract more visitors. For more information, contact us today.

Jessica Swink is a freelance writer specializing in articles about Social Media Optimization and SEO for travel Web sites.