Our latest figures for our top 10 advertisers show that an average of 11% of our visitors click on those advertisers’ thumbnails, the little illustrations that connect to the advertisers’ Web Page Ads. Of those, an average of 53% go on to connect to our advertisers’ home web pages. That means that 5.8% of all of our visitors end up clicking their way all the way to our top 10’s web sites. It’s like having 1 out of every 17 passersby at a mall look in all your windows – your description, Web Page Ad, Trip Listings, Featured Story -- and still want to come into your store. Now that is a qualified buyer!

While we’re great believers in advertising (it’s our bread and butter), we also know that marketing includes a heck of a lot more than buying ads. So, when you have the opportunity to get your name out before a lot of people for free, it makes sense to take advantage. We’re talking about listing your current trips inventory for free on our web site. Doing it is simple: Go to www.culturaltravels.com/Services/  then click on “Tour Hosts,” then click on “List ‘Specials’ or Trip Calendar.” If you’re not already registered with us, click on “List Your Company” in the Tour Hosts” section. Once you’re registered, you can list as many trips as you want with us.

When potential travel customers browse the Internet, they’re looking for information that will help them make a buying decision. When they reach your web site, are you doing all you can to establish yourself as a travel expert? There might be more you can do than just present facts about your company and its niche. One thing you might do is set up a link to The Cultured Traveler online newsletter (www.theculturedtraveler.com). Think of our archives as a reference library you can direct people to. Even better, if you’ve submitted an article to us in the past, by linking to it you increase your credibility. Reprints of many of are articles are also available and can be branded with your company information. Have a favorite, just give us a call at 888-443-8687 and we'll send you a sample.

JetBlue, the Little Airline That Could, has announced the purchase of 100 mid-sized Brazilian jets that will allow it to serve U.S. cities that generate less than 600 passengers per day. In doing so, JetBlue will compete directly with larger carriers, such as American and United, that currently monopolize smaller 200-to-500-passengers-per-day markets and charge exorbitantly high ticket prices as a result. JetBlue says its small 100-seat jets will only need 60 fares to reach breakeven, a factor that will allow it to charge lower tickets prices than the bigs. This is good news for small-market travelers, as well as travel agents who will be able to offer small-market clients a better range of choices. 

Media observer Marsha Geller relates as recent occasion where she filled out a magazine blow-in card for a subscription to InStyle magazine. The card asked for her name, address, e-mail and billing instructions. Weeks later she was pleasantly surprised to receive a warm e-mail greeting from InStyle that a.) thanked her for her subscription; b.) spelled her name correctly; and c.) invited her to go to the magazine’s web site. We agree with Geller’s observation that InStyle did a good job of connecting its print and online approaches to subscribers. When you ask potential customers for information, always get their e-mail address and respond to them by inviting them to stay in touch with you online. As Geller noted, people will open your e-mails because they already know who you are and are looking forward to the association.

Its’ getting bad out there, folks: AOL reports that 70% of all the e-mails it handles is spam. Yahoo reports that its spam traffic has increased 500% in one year. Anti-spam software has had pitifully little effect on a parasite that’s threatening to turn e-mail into a dead-end technology. Spamming is so cheap to do that spammers need only 1 out of every 100,000 people to respond to a message to make money. If you send out 10 million spams a day, that’s 100 respondents. Bottom line: This can’t go on. Watch for the feds to step in and to step in heavy. Congress will probably slap a toll on e-mails, the same way we now pay postage. Even a 1¢ fee would drive spammers out of business. For those of us who don’t send millions of e-mails per day, the cost might be just right.

July’s The Cultured Traveler will focus on some of history’s great explorers, including some you might not have heard about before. One of them is China’s Admiral Zheng, a mariner who in the early 15^th century led a fleet of immense junks into the Indian Ocean on a mission of exploration. Unfortunately, the Emperor of China called Zheng’s fleet home and ended his country’s brief flirtation with the outside world. In the vacuum created, Spain and Portugal became the masters of the Indian Ocean. The story of Admiral Zheng, as well as all the other ones we tell in The Cultured Traveler, are ones you should be happy to direct your clients to. Our archive of articles on sometimes offbeat places is one you should feel is your own to use (though not reproduce). See Item 2 above.