Free Marketing Class
The travel industry has changed, hasn’t it? There’s a whole new dynamic to being a “travel agent”. What a misnomer that’s become! Today, you need to FIRST sell yourself, your qualities, capabilities and professionalism and once that’s done, then comes the travel consulting part. No more agents, I say. We’re consultants and counselors, agreed? An “agent” doesn’t command the same respect that a counselor does. And we deserve all the respect we can get.
Once you’ve got a new travel prospect, either from your website or just the plain old telephone, and you’re actually talking to them about their choices in travel and helping them sift through their options, isn’t it always in the back of your mind that they’re double checking every detail with chat boards, forums, other online agents, and their “expert” friends?
And, God forbid might even take your hard earned expertise and book direct with a supplier that undercuts you to save $10? The competition is fierce with the advent of suppliers selling direct, affiliate programs, the so-called mega-players on the Internet, not to mention the competition across the street - and around the world. No one disputes that it’s getting harder to eek out a living.
Here’s the good news.
It is still possible to compete and succeed in the travel industry. No matter how large or small your agency. No matter if you’re a mega agency or homebased. You need a plan, you need a website and you need some tools to bring good, qualified prospects to your site.
The fact of the matter is: If you don’t learn this, you might not have a market to sell to, sooner than you think. Your customers, those loyal ones that you think will never leave you, are becoming savvier every day. I saw a commercial recently with a woman telling a banker she wasn’t going to take his offer of a mortgage. He responds, “But, you work here!” and she says, “I know, awkward, isn’t it?” Not as funny, or far-fetched as you think!
So, what’s an agent to do? Sit back and lose clients or get busy and get down to business - literally?
I think you know the answer. Now, let me show you how.
First, though, let me introduce myself. I’m Chelle Honiker Yarbrough, CTC (Yes, a real, bonafide Certified Travel Counselor, back from the ICTA days!) and I’ve been in the travel industry since 1987. Starting with Ask Mr. Foster on the hotel desk, moving to reservations with Maritz Travel in Dallas, Tx and then moving over to the technology side of the industry back in 1994 with some Carlson Wagonlit Travel Franchises.
I built my first website in 1994 and I’ve built hundreds, literally, hundreds of travel agency websites since. I founded Crossover Consulting in 1999 as an outsourced technology and training company, wrote a couple of books about how to close leads, and been lucky enough to be invited to speak at several prestigious conferences - the Travel Institute’s National Forum, the ASTA World Congress, Trams Tech U, AAA’s National Conference and the Travel Weekly Technology Conference, to name a few.
Bottom Line: I love sharing ideas with my travel professional friends - I see how hard they work, the profit margins they face and the struggles they endure every day.
Until now, I reserved marketing consulting for the clients I work with for website design, because we build and craft each site from the ground up and that’s where marketing starts. You need to have a well-designed site, with the right “bones” in order to compete.
Maxed out with web design work, I didn’t feel like I was helping the core market I committed to when I started the company. The solution? I made a decision get back to the core and do what I do best…
Teach Travel Pros How to Optimize and Market their Websites
Now, don’t get me wrong. I still think know I do it better than anyone else, but my company is a “boutique” and as I said, we’re maxed out. So I did the next best thing. I created a set of tools and training classes to teach the industry how to do it.
Special Introductory Offer:
Start with a free 5 day e-mail class.
Free Class? You betcha. Five days of an e-mail mini course delivered to your inbox to get you started, and more importantly, motivated!
Here’s the class outline:
1. Looking at Your Website from the Customer’s Perspective
You’ve got just 7 seconds to capture their attention - what are you putting in front of them? Learn what you should be putting first, why you shouldn’t devote “real estate” to supplier logos, what happens when you link away from your site and what supplier programs really do to your bottom line. Walk through the process of discovering your niche and personality on the Internet.
2. What’s in a Name? A Domain Name by Any Other Name is… Profitable!
What are “centric sites”? How can you spend $15 per year and get customers? We’ll discuss the technical aspects of choosing alternate domain names, the benefits of .com and .travel vs. any other extension, maintaining and marketing more than one site cheaply and efficiently, and resources for keeping your workload exactly the same, no matter how many sites you maintain.
3. The Realities and Myths of Search Engine Marketing
What is Organic Marketing? What’s the difference between Organic and Pay Per Click for travel websites and agencies? Once you’ve got your niche, you can move to the optimization phase of your website with the right travel keywords, travel keyphrases, travel-related meta tags and travel marketing tools. We’ll look at some top-ranked pages and see how and why they got there, along with Google Page Rank and its relevance.
4. I’m an Affiliate and I Didn’t Even Know It!
Today’s host agencies, co-ops and consortiums, as well as many technology companies, make it easy to have content on your site including prices, destination information, cruise ship information, vendor profiles and much more. On the surface, it looks like you could potentially have 10,000 pages of content indexed by the search engines, right? But, ask yourself: How does your site differ from any other site they provide?
(Here’s a hint: Google’s answer? It doesn’t.)
Affiliate marketing, as it’s referred to, disallows multiple instances of the same content, which means that in terms of search engine placement you’re dead. Learn how to break free of the affiliate trap, or simply supplement that content with search engine friendly info.
5. The $50.00 per click Urban Legend and how Not to Mortgage your House to use Google Adwords
Horror stories abound on the Internet about how travel agencies, eager for new customers, set up an Adwords account, set it, forget it, and then get sticker shock when their credit card bill comes. Others simply ignore this powerful and effective marketing method, thinking that they can’t compete. You can! Effectively, efficiently and affordably. Day Five of the free e-class gives you an overview of how.
Why is it Free? What’s the catch?
Good question. Here’s why.
1. I am now, and always have been, committed to the success of the travel counselor community. I’m a member of many of the industry organizations that support agencies and I firmly believe that no technology, no matter how intelligent, will be able to replace the experience and professionalism of a travel counselor. Travel is not a “widget” - it’s a subjective experience like falling in love and can’t be automated.
2. If you try the five day course, and it works for you, then consider a monthly consulting subscription and companion e-book. Each month you’ll receive case studies for niche agencies like cruise-only, luxury, family travel and adventure travel. We look at the websites behind the scenes, pull them apart and see what works and what doesn’t. You’ll get a weekly newsletter with tips, tricks and the latest from the world of search engine marketing, drilled down to only what you need to know and why. But, try the five-day course first and see if I know what I’m talking about.
3. If you find that you absolutely can’t do it yourself, and I haven’t found anyone yet that hasn’t been able to, then you can hire us to market your travel site armed with the knowledge of how we’ll do it, and what the value is for our time and effort. It’s just that simple. An informed client is a valuable client to us.
But first things first. Sign up for the free five day marketing course and let’s get to work.
With Warm Regards,
Chelle
P.S. - Did I mention The free course also includes a bonus link at the end to the e-book SIX STEPS TO CLOSING AN INTERNET LEAD? Updated for 2008, it also includes bonus material to help increase your online sales, refine your sales process and upgrade your image on your website. It’s a $24.95 value - yours free! Don’t wait another minute and don’t lose another click. Sign up for the free course now!
