Category Archives: Advertising

*** How To Get Found On The Internet ***

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Getting found on the Internet is often a matter of luck that someone happens to search for a word you have on your site that few others use.

It’s a fact that the more popular relevant words are used by most sites and those with the deepest pockets dominate.

And the same applies to advertising.

So how do small business owners compete? How do you get found on the Internet?

We have owned the domain traveljunkies.com since 2002 which is why a Google search for traveljunkies or travel junkies produces a quarter of a million results and we are at the top of page 1. And the same applies for searches on Bing, Yahoo and even the top Chinese site Baidu.com.

When we advertise we use this tactic to get more people interested.

Imagine Being Found Even When People Aren’t Looking For You

 

For Example:  If you run a hostel, B&B or Hotel and there are activities in your area, your advert could look something like this.

Friendly quality hostel accommodation, 10 mins beach, 20 mins city centre, dorm, single and double rooms, pool, transport, full facilities, great value hostel. Prices from $20 per night. Water Sports and many other Outdoor Activities can be arranged nearby Tel: xxxxxxxxxx

ooo

It’s all about using the keywords people search for.

Adding a short sentence in your advert (see Italics) that has some connection to your business, greatly increases the range of your advert at no extra cost.

Just make sure it’s relevant for the people making the search.

You don’t want to be a spammer.

And finally – don’t advertise where you are just listed with everybody else.
Advertise where a search will find all your key words in your advert.

Please note – Premium Adverts in Traveljunkies are suspended due to Coronavirus

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What Do Your Customers Want?

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Hey – we’ve done it.

After asking our clients and visitors what they would like, we launched our new website on 4 January 2017.

Take a look here and tell us what you think.

Thank you

Why Are We Changing?

To help small adventure and travel businesses in an industry dominated by big business.

  • Focus on what customers want in this fast growing mobile world.
  • Assure our visitors they are dealing with a reputable business that is a recognised authority in promoting adventure travel.
  • Promote ourselves for our customer’s benefit. We didn’t get to the top of page 1 in Google by hiding ourselves away.

Too often we hear about big businesses squeezing smaller businesses with their financial and advertising power.
No matter how much you spend on advertising, attending events, SEO etc. small businesses can’t compete with big businesses to get to the top of Google. So why try?

But there is a market where big businesses are missing out and it’s where you have an advantage.

A website is not the best place for someone using a mobile phone.
People on the move want things fast, and these are your target customers.
Big businesses can’t react like you can.

A question.  What does someone want to do when they find you?

traveler looking for something to do 600x400

 

 

 

They want to contact you and because they have a phone in their hand they most likely want to call you
This is your opportunity.

  • Make contact, build trust
  • Tell them you’ve got what they want
  • Tell them the deal you can offer
  • Make the sale.

If they trust you and like you, they aren’t likely to go through the process again unneccessarily.
Big businesses can rarely do this.

  • Target your customers with a carefully worded advert
  • Include keywords to help search engines find you.
  • Give customers what they want and the easy way to get it.

If you need help to do that we have the skills and resources to help you. I’ll tell you more about how we can help you increase your business when we launch our new site in a few months.

One more question.  Are big businesses putting the squeeze on your business?

Big v small 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

This may be familiar because we’ve asked this question before.

We had an excellent reply from Nick Marshall who owns holiday homes in Cairns, Australia in which he explained the problems he has competing with bigger businesses with deeper pockets.

You can see Nick’s report here together with comments from other small business owners suffering the same problems.

We have taken notice of what Nick and others have said which convinced us to concentrate on promoting small businessess.
In fact, we will restrict adverts to small and medium size businesses although we won’t eliminate Booking Agencies because many small businesses rely on them.

So please take a few minutes to see what other small business owners have told us here. We think you will recognise similar problems and we’d very much like to hear your story.

Keep watching for more details when we launch our new website

Best wishes

Cliff Chapman
http://www.traveljunkies.com

 

I recently received this email from one of our clients with some very sad news.

Hello Cliff

The information is correct although we have sad news. Tyll’s Dive will close down begin may this year.

Our small business could just not survive and compete against new dive businesses with a good money back up.

As of now we have no one interested in buying the name and the permit owner of building is not interested in new tenents, which makes it difficult to sell the business as a whole package.

After we close down we will take a couple of weeks to relax and enjoy the island again, then most likely going back to Denmark for a while and find out what will happen from there and what options we have.

Thank you for your support over the years.

Dorte
Tyll’s Dive
Roatan

 

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How To Make Your Adverts Work Better

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“When things are good you should advertise, when things aren’t good you MUST advertise.”

Advertise your website, not your services or products. 

Traffic is the lifeblood of your website, without traffic your site is dead.
If no-one sees it, it might just as well not exist.

  • To attract visitors to your website, advertise your website not your services or products.
  • Your website does your selling so don’t make the mistake of making your adverts a mini version of your website.

[more …]

Include a wide range of keywords and key phrases in your adverts.

  • As well as the keywords for your own business, think wider. Include key words and phrases people might use when they aren’t specifically looking for you.
  • For example, if you provide accommodation, include words for nearby attractions and activities. People searching for tours, scuba diving, sightseeing etc. will often need somewhere to stay so use these kind of keywords in your adverts,

Be friendly, helpful and contactable.

Make it easy for people to get in touch with you. Many adverts fail because they’re not user friendly or don’t tell visitors what to do next.

  • Don’t forget your Call To Action. Tell people what to do.
  • Include your name and contact details and encourage people to contact you.
  • Keep adverts short and to the point as many are read on mobile devices.

Use Social Media to promote your business – it’s free.

  • Always include links to your social media sites in your advertising and emails.
  • Link to Facebook, Twitter, Pinit and Linkedin. These four cover the widest range of prospects.
  • Limit it to four. More than four can look like spamming.
  • Promote your Blog in the same way you advertise your website. Then use your Blog to promote your website.

Make sure they’re mobile friendly

See more – http://www.traveljunkiesblog.com/mobile-friendly/

One more thing …

If your advertising isn’t working, stop doing it. Do something else.
You run your business to make money so find out how, where and when to advertise to get the best value for your money.

Cliff Chapman
traveljunkies

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Why People Buy From You

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Or rather – Why they don’t

Why

It’s mainly because most of the time we’ve got it wrong.

  • Why are Apple so successful
  • Why did the Wright brothers beat the competition for man-powered flight?
  • Why did a quarter of a million people turn up to Martin Luther King’s speech?
  • Why do some things succeed and others fail, and it’s nothing to do with function, features, benefits or price.

There’s one simple explanation. See it here

16 million people have viewed this.

Cliff Chapman
www.traveljunkies.com

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4 Tips To Make Your Adverts Work.

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Advertising

1.  Advertise your website, not your services or products. 

If the purpose of your advert is to attract visitors to your website then advertise your website, not your services or products.
Your website should do your selling so don’t make the mistake of making your advertising a mini version of your website.

Traffic is the lifeblood of your website, without traffic your site is dead.
If no-one sees it, it might just as well not exist. So in all your advertising, promote your website.

So remember the rule “Advertise Your Website, Not Your Services or Products.“  

2.  Attract more visitors. Include a wide range of keywords and key phrases in your adverts.

As well as the keywords you use for your own business, think wider and include key words and phrases people might use when they aren’t specifically looking for you.

For example, if you provide accommodation, include words for nearby attractions and activities. People searching for scuba diving, whitewater rafting, skydiving, sailing, etc. will often need somewhere to stay and with those kind of keywords in your adverts, people will find you.    

3.  Be friendly, helpful and approachable.

Make it easy for people to get in touch with you. Many adverts fail because they’re not user friendly, and aren’t designed to make life easy. Always include your name and contact details in your advert.

if you send emails to your prospects and customers, keep them short and to the point as more and more people are reading their emails on mobile devices, and make sure your contact details easy to find.

4.  Use Social Media to promote your business – it’s free.

Always include links to your social media sites Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin in your advertising and emails. These three cover the widest range of prospects

Limit it to three. More than three could look like your spamming.

And don’t forget your Blog. Treat it like another website, which it is.
Promote your Blog in the same way you advertise your website. Then use your Blog to promote your business website.

One more tip …

If your advertising isn’t working, stop doing it. Do something else.

You run your business to make money. The most important thing you must do is decide where and how to advertise to get the best value for your money.

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Beware And Be Careful About This …

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We have been getting an increasing number of requests to remove adverts in traveljunkies and we’re not alone. These are often emails with businesslike names claiming to be webmasters and using Gmail, AOL or similar general use email addresses.

The most frequently given reason is that Google are penalising companies that advertise referring to Google’s backlink policy and the effect on Search Engine Optimisation.

Whereas this my be a genuine concern for some businesses it isn’t the case for the majority who use respectable and responsible advertising.
If it were, advertising as we know it would soon disappear.

I’m writing this to alert you to the unscrupulous and possibly illegal actions perpetrated by businesses attempting to impact their competitors and by hackers and scammers being disruptive and destructive.

We recently received an email requesting the removal of a free advert for a backpackers in Australia. When we checked with the company they had not sent the email.

At traveljunkies we have been promoting small businesses with free and paid adverts for 12 years and we only accept requests from authorised representatives of genuine businesses, and we check the website of every request to ensure they are who they say they are.

Therefore we do not accept any request to remove an advert unless it comes directly from the company who placed it and only when sent from the company’s email address, or with the explicit approval of the company if the request comes from an agency or affiliate claiming to represent the company.

As we have no way of checking the validity of every request to delete an advert, I’m sure you will understand why we enforce this rule.

And if you place adverts on your website, free or paid, I recommend you do the same when you receive requests to remove them.

Cliff Chapman
traveljunkies

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