The Travel Matrix

The Outside Explorer's Guide to the Brave New World of Trip Planning.

Blogsploitation

Thanks, or no thanks, to blogs, everyone is suddenly a travel writer. The kinds of tales once shared among friends ("the cioppino went down easy but unfortunately came back up even easier") are suddenly public domain. Too many wannabe Brysons can be annoying, but the upshot is that you get a chance to learn painlessly, drawing on the lessons of those who've bravely (or foolishly) gone before. As a research tool, blogs are revolutionary. For travel outfitters with zero control over the candid reviews, they can be terrifying. "A lot of companies are scared out of their minds," says Sean Keener, cofounder of the travel-blog hub BootsnAll.com. "But the smart ones are responding to what people are writing with an improved product." Here are a few tips to better your blog time.

» Browse a little, search a lot:
Use sites' search tools to find pairings of, say, "Mongolia" and "fly-fishing guide," and try meta search engines like Google's Blog Search (blogsearch.google.com) or Technorati Blog Finder (www.technorati.com/blogs) to sift through thousands of sites simultaneously.

» Get backup:
Blogs aren't fact-checked—don't rely on a single source claiming that a renowned trekking guide serves only rice and ketchup for dinner.

» And know your blogger:
One traveler's dreamy bungalow is another's mosquito-infested shack. Seek out profile pages for personal tidbits and travel experiences.