philemer

I just deleted a few Off Topic posts. Let's try to stay On Topic to make the thread more meaningful and easier to search.

Happy New Year to all and may 2013 be a HUGE year for the accumulation of miles & points.

ma91pmh

AMEN to that!!!

ArizonaGuy

My blog will be the most useful. And it won't have much of anything to do with points.

AZTravelGuy for the win!

TravelSummary

I didn't read this entire thread but to answer the original question, here's my two cents:

Best blogs to get general info: One Mile at a Time and View from the Wing.
Best blog for beginners/noobs: MMS (and I'm trying to focus mine on that a bit also, but not in a deal-killing type way).
Best blog for creative point earning: Frequent Miler.
Best blog for travel hacking: Hack My Trip.
Best blogs for consolidating all the other blogs: Mileage Update (links to new posts on various topics), Travel Blogger Buzz (funny commentary), Travel Summary (just the important updates that day), and Street Smart Traveler (new and covers various topics).

There are other, niche ones depending on what you're interested in of course. Can't beat FT for all the other topics that aren't discussed in blogs.

jcmitchell21

I'm thinking of starting a mailed circular that I print in my basement. I'll pay the usps for route deliveries and hopefully gain some readership that way. Thoughts?

Canarsie

That is similar to how the predecessor to FlyerTalk was started almost 27 years ago.

MileageUpdate

Thanks for the shout out. We are tweaking some things and hope to dig out more FF earning strategies in the near future.

TravelSummary

Oops, just realized that "new points" should read "new posts." I'll make the edit!

jcmitchell21

I was joking, but thanks for that fact. Didn't know that.

Canarsie

It is true.

Randy Petersen — the founder of FlyerTalk — was working in a retail store in New York. He was constantly asked by peers, colleagues, family and friends about how to best earn and use miles and points for travel.

One day in 1986, he decided to take a chance, quit his job and launch a one-page newsletter where he clipped articles and pasted them onto a piece of paper, copied it and distributed it. This was the launch of his career in travel, which ultimately led to the launch of FlyerTalk.

Randy Petersen has told me this story more than once in person, but I do not recall whether or not he actually posted it on FlyerTalk. I will alert him to correct me if I am wrong — or to elaborate if anyone is interested...

elBulli

Seems like he could have put together a one-page newsletter without quitting his job. What an odd move, adding lots more potential and unnecessary risk to the situation.

lwildernorva

It was a daily newsletter in 1986. No simple World Wide Web for posting and distribution. When Canarsie talks of distribution of a daily newsletter, I suspect that the putting together was simple--getting into the hands of his potential readers was complicated and time consuming in comparison in those days, thus requiring him to focus solely on the newsletter.

And, of course, the risk paid off very handsomely. . .

84fiero

Indeed. IIRC from his talk at the Chicago Seminar the year before last, he, among other things, went out to the local airport(s) (NYC area I think?) and approached people in person with samples and to solicit subscriptions. Couple that with the literal cutting and pasting, and that's a lot of time spent!

Randy actually went through the whole timeline through to the start of FT and it was very interesting and inspiring, I thought.

mfr2000

I am giving milevalue my vote. The most comprehensive information and some really great tricks

travelinmanS

I'm confused about these blogs. Whenever I look at them, which admittedly isn't very often, it seems like they just lift material from here and compile the interesting bits into a few stories with copious amounts of credit card links scattered over the page. As I'd imagine their main clientele are also Flyertalk readers I just don't see what the value is? Can someone please explain this to me?