Europe a la Carte Blog

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Everyone wants to know how to effectively market their travel business. It’s a competitive environment out there in the world of online travel and you need these travellers to find and purchase your travel product or service rather than your competitors As the owner of a web based travel business Europe a la Carte I wanted to check out my marketing strategy so I looked at the definition of marketing in Wikipedia.

1 Discern consumer desires

2 Design product or service to fulfil these desires

3 Direct consumers to purchasing your product or service.

It’s all very well reading three apparently simple marketing steps but the trick is how you translate these into actions that will be effective for your travel business.

I’ve some issues with point 1. I’m not sure many travel consumers have a distinct desire. Many are influenced by price alone. There are some predictions that travellers will start to place less emphasis on bargain hunting when purchasing travel as they seek a more personalised travel experience. Therefore travel brands which fulfil this desire will attract and retain a more loyal following.

Many UK residents view travel primarily as an escape to sunnier climes from the unpredictable UK weather, so are not too concerned about their destination, as long as it’s hot and sunny. Consumers may see a location in a TV programme or film and decide they’d like to visit that location. They may read about a destination in a magazine or on a social network site. I’ve had clients approach me with very specific requirements e.g they want to rent a villa in the Italian lake district. I found a villa which fulfilled their criteria and when I phoned them they told me that they’d decided to go to a kibbutz in Israel. The problem is if you can’t correctly identify customers desires how can you then fulfil these desires?

I’m sticking to the belief that there is a niche for Europe a la Carte in providing information to travellers who want to experience authentic travel in Europe on a modest budget. I see the rise in the value of the euro against the dollar and sterling as an opportunity for me to attract travellers who want to squeeze more of off their holiday euro but still travel in relative comfort. Also more UK residents are considering taking holidays on home shores and my site has a lot of content about Scotland.

Therefore in order to follow step 2 of fulfilling the desire of travellers to visit authentic Europe on a modest budget I write destination guides to less well known cities and regions where travellers can experience more of the real Europe away from the tourist crowds and inflated prices. I write blog posts giving tips and advice about destinations, travel deals, accommodation and links to useful resources.

With regard to step 3 that should follow logically on from the content of the site and blog if my content can be found through the search terms used by potential site visitors. With around 60% of my traffic coming from search engines keyword identification and search engine optimisation are crucial. However I find that visitors referred to my site stay longer and look at more pages highlighted the importance of having links on other sites and blogs.

However merely driving traffic to the site is not my aim, I need a percentage of visitors to go on to purchase accommodation, car hire or insurance through the affiliate links and/or click on ads on the site in order to generate revenue. I find that it’s contextual text links that bring the most revenue. You can’t just stick a few banners on your site and expect that to be effective.

I hope that by reading this post you’ll evaluate your marketing strategy to ensure that travel purchasers find and buy on your site. I’d welcome any feedback and/or suggestions about marketing your travel business.

This post was featured in the 12th edition of the Internet Business Blog Canival and the Marketer Review Sunday Carnival on 4 May 2008.

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like running your own web based business, you can read my everyday agonies and ecstasies running my travel website and blog on Twiiter. Share in my daily frustrations with IT, my joy when I get publicity or positive feedback. Have a laugh with me when things go array, like when I misspelled budget travel as “bodget” travel on a live blog. Perhaps I could diversify into writing a sit-com entitled “Bodget Travel”. Read about the moment when divine inspiration strikes and I try a new ploy to develop the business or I suddenly work out how to master the latest IT gizmo like blog widgets.

Divine Inspiration by azrainman

I started my travel business Europe a la Carte in 2002 to promote authentic travel in Europe on a modest budget. I believe that if you venture, even slightly, off the beaten track, you’ll see more of the real Europe. My site features guides to less well known European destinations. I started the Europe a la Carte blog in October 2006 and write about travel news, tips and advice, travel deals, accommodation and restaurant reviews.

Things recently moved up a gear for me when I started the editor of the Wandalust UK travel blog, where I’ve to write five posts a week. It’s getting even harder trying to fit everything in - my travel business and blog, my part time day job as a social research interviewer and having some time for family and friends.

Well certainly life is never dull as an internet entrepreneur and blogger, so if you are already a Twitterer you can follow me or you can sign up to Twitter and start receiving my “Everyday agony & ecstasy of a non techie Scot running a travel website and blog” updates.

PS I’ve been trying to add my Twitter badge to this post but in keeping with being a non techie, I can’t get the code to work in a blog post. The code works fine the margin of the home of Europe a la Carte but apparently not in a blog post.

I received an email this morning from Kango informing me that they are changing their name to Uptake. The new name is deemed to be more relevant to the business’ aim of gathering, organising and delivering the collective travel wisdom from the internet.

It’s a big step to change your name and I’m sure that Kango must have thought carefully about this. Personally I don’t like the new name as Uptake could be the uptake of absolutely anything. I thought Kango had a lot more relevance to travel and encouraged you to travel in positive ” can go” way.

This all made my think about my own business name “Europe a la Carte“. Does it say what my business does? I chose the name when I started my travel business in 2002. The name was to indicate that you could see Europe on an independent “a la carte” basis rather than the “set menu” approach of a package holiday.

However my business name could be understood as being the name of a catering business as travel is not mentioned. Also “a la carte” does have some connotations of being more expensive which is contrary to my strapline of “authentic travel in Europe on a modest budget”.

I’ve toyed with the idea of changing my business name but haven’t been able to come up with a better replacement. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s difficult to encompass everything in a business name. Some have achieved this, one of the best examples I can think of in the travel industry is TravelRants. the UK travel consumer blog, where you can let off steam about travel related issues.

What’s your opinion on the importance of a travel business name? Do you think Kango is right to change their name to Uptake?

I’ve registered with Twitter. I regard it as a mini blog, where I can write snippets about what I’m doing and what’s happening in my travel business. You can follow me on Twitter by receiving updates.

Twitter allows visitors to see that my travel business is run by a real person, giving the site an credible feel. Twitter is a tool in establishing my brand as a great resource for travellers wanting to experience authentic travel in Europe on a modest budget.

Do you use Twitter, if so what do you like about it?

I read Neala’s comment that there should be a category for travel information sites in the Travelmole 2008 Web Awards. I was curious about her site called OffbeatTravel as I thought Neala must be thinking along similar lines to me about getting off the beaten track during your trips.

1 What is the aim of your business?

When I started OffbeatTravel.com my first thought was that it would be fun to investigate and find unusual places and then tell people about them. But I’ve come to believe that travel is broadening, and that through travel people learn about and hopefully come to respect the differences that flavor the world and make it an interesting place. That belief, I hope, is expressed in the articles we publish – a fundamental respect for and appreciation of the places we travel and the cultures we experience.

2 What prompted you to start your own business?

I was entranced with the possibilities of the internet and wanted to play
with it. I figured a website would be the way to start. I then had to comeup with a concept that would interest me enough to put in the tremendous amount of work websites require. Since I’ve always loved to travel, and love things that are a little off-center, OffbeatTravel.com was a natural.

3 What has been the hardest aspect of having your own business?

Making the time to run it properly. After I started OffbeatTravel.com and since I was living in NY and love New York City, I opened
OffbeatNewYork.com. Then, almost two years ago I moved to Albuquerque, NM and thought “I love New Mexico, I should open another website devoted tothe Land of Enchantment.” So I did. And now I’m always really, really busy.

4 What is the funniest thing that has happened to you running your own
business?

It’s been a wonderful experience. I’ve met terrific people and I’ve
certainly learned a lot. But I have to admit, there isn’t much funny about running a business.

5 Is there anything you would do differently with the benefit of
hindsight?

I probably wouldn’t have opened three separate websites. At least when someone asked me to start a fourth website, I got quite a hearty laugh and said “no, I don’t think so.” Oh, perhaps that is the funniest that has happened while running my business!

My comments - Thanks, Neala, you’re right to stress the importance of respect towards other cultures and not assuming that your own is superior. It is hard work running your own business. You never seem to have time to do everything that you’d like to and/or should do. I started a second blog, Business Blog Boost, to write about the benefits of blogging for your business and hardly get around the writing posts for it.

I wrote an assessment of the HotelsCombined affiliate scheme for other blog, Business Blog Boost.  I rate the HotelsCombined affiliate scheme highly because it makes money for me whilst being a great resource for my site visitors, enabling them to quickly and easily find a great deal on hotels through a price comparison facility.

Finding the best affiliate schemes for my site is crucial. I want to maximise revenue by using contextual links which have a high utility value to my site visitors leading to a high click through rate.

I first used HotelsCombined as a consumer to search for the best accommodation deals for my own business and leisure stays. The site searched over 30 accommodation suppliers such as Bookings.com, Octopus, Laterooms and Venere, There’s usually a wide choice of accommodation with some real bargains, so it’s a great resource for travellers. Whenever I’m thinking about a trip, HotelsCombined is my first port of call in my quest to find the best hotel rate.

I noticed HotelsCombined had an affiliate scheme so I decided to sign up. It’s a great asset to have a hotel price comparison site on my travel site as I know that visitors are going to shop around for the best deal, so if I provide that facility on my site, visitors are more likely to stay on my site and perceive my site as a useful resource.

My business has to generate income for me but it also has to offer site visitors something of value and benefit. I believe I’ve achieved this with Hotels Combined.

Please let me know how you rate HotelsCombined as an affiliate and/or as a consumer looking for the lowest hotel rates.

Well according to PhocusWright who’ve invited me to attend the PhocusWright Bloggers Summit in Berlin 5 - 6 March as a qualified travel industry blogger. The Summit is a wonderful opportunity for me to meet other travel bloggers, exchange ideas and examine the influence of blogging on travel businesses.

Berlin: Haus der Kultur der Weld by medienfrech

I’m also looking forward to seeing Berlin and doing some research for guide to Berlin for my site.

Jens of the Tourism Internet Marketing blog has put out a call for travel marketing secrets and tips. He’s looking for your best kept marketing secret to add to Tips from the T List ebook. This set me thinking about my marketing efforts in my UK based online travel business Europe a la Carte.

What pearl of wisdom could I pass on to aid my colleagues in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry.? It’s doesn’t exactly qualify as a secret and it’s not a quick, easy fix which you can implement and see immediate returns. My tip is to blog for your travel related business, create and maintain a blog as part of your website.

What’s great about a blog for a small business such as mine is that it is virtually no cost, in financial terms. It does take enormous amounts of time and effort to regularly research and write posts., visit and comment at other related blogs and generally promote your blog e.g. submit to blog directories. So many other types of marketing can involve a large capital outlay and are not guaranteed to be cost effective.

I think that travel related businesses are ideal home for a blog because most consumers are interested in reading about travel. Having a business blog is difficult balancing act as you have to simultaneously entertain, inform and interest the reader (your potential or existing customer) and sell your product or service. Nobody is going to bother reading your blog if it is just unremitting sales copy. If your blog is merely going to be riveting reading but not increasing brand awareness and leading to some sales and increase in revenue and profits, then why bother investing the time blogging?

I’m sure most of us have thought about doing some online writing but been put off by lack of IT knowledge or not wanting to spend money buying domains or reliable hosts for websites. Hubpages offers you a way to start writing and publishing articles about topics that you are passionate or knowledgeable. It’s easy to sign up and starting publishing within minutes.

It’s a good way to build up your confidence as a writer when you see how many other hubbers are reading your articles, giving you the thumbs up and your Hubscore begins to rise.  You can see which topics and style of articles are most popular.

There is the opportunity to earn some income from Google Ads click throughs and Ebay and Amazon sales from ads displayed around your article. You receive 60% of the income from these programmes and Hubpages receive the other 40%.

If you set up a free blog with Wordpress which is hosted by Wordpress you won’t be allowed to display any ads on your blog. You’ll have to host your own blog in order to be able to have any blog ads.

So why not sign up to Hubpages now and give it a go. If you write quality articles which give readers the benefit of your expertise you will attract readers. The great thing is that you, the writer, own the copyright of your articles so if things do go well, you could set up your own blog or website if you don’t wish to continue revenue sharing with Hubpages.

Today, the 22 October 2007, is the first birthday of my travel busines blog. So what’s the first year in the blogosphere been like for me?

1st Birthday Cake by PinkCakeBox

I looked back at the my second post, “Novice Blogger” where I stated that the aim of the blog was to increase awareness of my travel business without a large marketing budget. I think I’ve achieved this as the number of visitors to the site has more than doubled as have my turnover without any increase in expenditure. However it’s impossible to say exactly how much of this is attributable to the blog as I’ve been writing and publicising more destination guides on the main site. I also installed Google Adsense a year ago which has increased my revenue.

The blog made it into the top 100,000 of the Technorati rankings in September 2007, not bad, considering here are millions of blogs out there. However it has slipped a bit since then.

I’ve spend an enormous amount of time and effort on growing the blog. It’s been on the whole interesting and enjoyable writing for the blog. I was inspired to start another blog, Business Blog Boost, in June 2007, to offer advice and tips on blogging to boost your business to other small business owners.

Well, onwards and upwards, I’ve to keep focused on writing quality content for the blog, so it can keep boosting my travel business. Please let me know which posts you’ve enjoyed most and what sort of topics you’d like me to write about more often. If you blog for your business what impact do you think that blog has had on your business?