|
53.2% |
And the winner is
Asia Minor
Travel & Tours
Web Page Ad views. The company drew visitors by having contributed two articles to The
Cultured Traveler, listing current trips and being a past Pick of the Month.
Are you taking full advantages of all the free Services CT provides?
The
economy, not war jitters, is causing travel to slump
As
we’ve talked to various tour operators and agents throughout the past
month, it’s become apparent that the possibility of war in the Middle
East is less a factor in slumping travel sales than the sluggish U.S. and
European economies. Our informal conclusion is reinforced by TIA’s
latest Traveler Sentiment Index, which measures, among other things,
consumers’ ability to take pleasure trips. The Index showed an 8.7%
decline in consumers who believe they have enough time to travel, and a 4.2%
decline in ones who think they can afford travel. Both perceptions are
tied to people’s inclination to hunker down in slow times. Two bright
spots remain: Older, affluent travelers
remain more confident than Boomers
and Gen X/Y-ers in their travel prospects, and the growth in the U.S.
economy during the second quarter was 3.1% -- pretty good for an economy
that has been flirting with recession.
“Impressions:”
Drill downs are a way to fudge figures
While
talking about online ads with some colleagues the other day, we concluded
that one of the biggest shucks in online advertising is “impressions.”
An impression is whenever a visitor views a Web page (and everything on it).
The theory goes that the more impressions a web site generates, the more
impressive it is. But it occurred to us that on some web sites, visitors
have to click on dozens of pages to get information on other sites that
might take far fewer. Case in point: On Cultural Travels, a visitor only
needs to make three clicks (say, "Theme," "Art" and
"Destination") to
arrive at listings on dozens, even hundreds, of tour operators. On one site we
know, visitors must drill down four steps to reach info on one tour
operator in a category (say, "Art History in Italy"), then repeat two to three
steps to reach info any other operator in the same category. Result? We
record "only" three page impressions, compared to several dozen for the other site, even as
we make our information far more accessible and user-friendly. Quality
beats quantity.
How
a best-performing ad on our site works so well
What
makes for a good online ad with Cultural Travels? Take a look at Nomadic
Expeditions, one of the top 10 performing advertisers as reported in last
month’s issue of Inside CT. Despite Nomadic’s
narrow specialty – trips to Mongolia – it’s a successful advertiser
because it follows some basic rules so well:
- Nomadic’s trips inventory (a free listing service with us) is current.
No trips from 2001 or early 2002.
- Its
Web Page Ad copy is clearly written, graphically simple and provides
three direct links to its home web page.
- Nomadic’s
home page sparingly uses Java applets – enough to lend an air of
excitement and modernity without overwhelming visitors.
- The
site’s pages are simple, uncluttered and restrained. Copy is informative and simple – the writer’s not
trying to show off. Links to more detailed information are easy to find
and use.
- Links
to upcoming trips are right at the top. One click takes visitors to
in-depth summaries that include all relevant info, plus access to
detailed itineraries.
There’s
no magic here, just a lot of thoughtfulness. The “rules” for
effective ads are simple – and they work.
Our price increase – what’s up and
why
In January we will increase our ad prices by 50%. We set our current prices 24 months ago when traffic to our site was much smaller and the number of services and features we offered was far less than it is now. In effect, we’ve been undervaluing ourselves for a considerable time and have decided to make our prices reflect the actual value we bring to the travel market table. As always, we’ll continue to expand the range of features and services we offer. Before January 1, we’ll be happy to lock in any new 12-month advertisers at the current rate. (Contact us at 1-888-443-8687 for more information.)
Hey, don’t forget
these nifty features in The Cultured Traveler
We’re always adding new features to The Cultured Traveler, sometimes so many and so quickly that we forget to toot our own horn. For example, the Search feature will let you access tourist board URLs for 165 countries or the 531 events in our ever-growing Calendar. Also, we’ve separated out our monthly main cover stories and started calling it what they really are: editorials. You can access all of them by clicking on the Editorials button on the menu bar. As we grow our “stable” of writers, we’ve added a new feature that lets you find all of the articles written by a particular writer. For example, if you like Dea Adria Mallin, click on About. When you see Dea’s mug shot, click on Find Articles by Dea Adria Mallin and there you go.
When you reinvent the wheel, you inevitably return to the circle
Dealing
with some of players in the modern travel industry is like dealing with
teenagers. No matter how many times
you sweetly tell them that something probably won’t work, they’ve got to
go through misery themselves before they’ll agree with you. Case in
point: travel agent killer Expedia, hailed as a way for travelers and
airlines to cut out nettlesome middlemen, just announced it’s tacking a $5
fee on airline tickets. The reason?
Well, um, er, eh. . .declining commissions. Margins are so thin that Expedia
can’t make its money goals without adding a surcharge. We think we
understand now: Travel agents bad because they charge for their services. Expedia good,
even if it charges for the same service. Glad we got that clear.
