Travel sites

I don't think it's just about laziness: it's about the perception of credibility and security, too. So many people, before booking travel and paying a deposit, want to speak to a person rather than endure the impersonality and automation of booking online.

It's largely for this reason, the very widespread affiliate payment difficulties arising from it, and the almost-impossibility of reliably tracking your payments, that I no longer promote anything related to travel, at the moment.


.

Why don't use Adsense to monetize traffic? It's rapid, safe and profitable. Traver sites are niche where CPC are high.

I'm not sure it's because people want to talk to a live human being before booking. I don't.

What's the site look like? Professional? Is he having people book directly through his site, or passing them through to another vendor much like Kayak does.

Travel's tough, perhaps the most tough vertical with so many household names, as well as Google kicking around. It's not a niche that I would want to be a part of-

I know my buddy has travelocity on his site and I have looked at it before and I don't recall seeing any phone numbers on there site but I have looked over his hotel page which is well written and his main hotel booking company has a phone number on it, as I said why not just use travelocity as I didn't see any phone numbers on it. I haven't really looked over his entire site so see if all his vendors which is what I call them have phone numbers no them or not.

Steve B, I think part of the problem as I see it is that everyone you mentioned is nothing but a booking company and none of them give any information about anything. My friend's site and others I have looked at seem like they have the same thing in common which is they tell people how to do things, how to find things, how to plan there vacations where as I said none of the big booking services do that. I kind of understand what he is going through putting that much work into something and getting it on page one which none of the booking companies are at least in his niche. But it seems like people go there get what they need and go to a big booking service and make there reservation. One person said people want to talk to someone before spending that much money but I checked and none of the book booking companies have phone numbers on there websites and the few that I clicked on the contact button has an e-mail address so I don't think that really has much to do with it.

My first question would be - What type of keyword is he ranking for? Does it have any buying intention or is it purely for information?

This will give you an idea on how to monetize his site better.

As for the phone numbers, I'm sure some travel agencies would be more inclined to pay for the leads you send them, whether it'd be in the form of phone or email.

Thanks Steve and I understand about the giants in the industry but he does actually use them, he has links on his site to Travelocity and some of the other and asks them to come back to his site and book because of all the information he has given them. It also says on his site that there is no extra cost for going through his site to get to the big booking companies. He read somewhere that you should ask for the sale so he does and as I said he uses the information they found as a reason to go through him to get to the booking companies. From what he tells me most small sites do this, how else would all the booking companies have so many back links, its because they all have so many affiliates selling for them.

How much traffic is he getting? With top rankings you could be getting massive traffic as there's much queries related to travel.

I guess I am missing the point and maybe I don't get it as my dopy little sites make me money and for some reason there must not be a trust issue so I guess I don't understand how my buddy had to get people to trust him. I mean I have read almost all the pages on his site and they are filled with great information as well as travel stories so to me and maybe because he is my friend but how else is the guy supposed to get people to trust him. Besides the travel stories he even tells people how to use the sites he is sending people to so how do you get someone to trust a site that tells you step by step how to book a hotel on another site.

Why does not him rent a phoen number in Twilio and keep a track of the calls?
That way he will see if their website is converting.
But it might be the copy on the home page what it needs to be improved.

There is an affiliate program for everything travel related: flights, hotels, activities, car rentals, meals out, EVERYTHING!

this site is great for learning about earning from a travel site - TravelDividends.com

I have heard a lot about trust on this subject and I understand but as I don't do much traveling how would I know to trust travelocity,Orbitz or Expedia,. Doesn't the sites on page one position normally get some trust automatically which is where his site was for a long time. Also and again this is me as I don't travel much but how would I know which site on oh lets say Italy to trust? I mean with the exception of my friends site I know nothing about Italy and as I said he is on page one so how would I know to trust him or not especially if I know nothing about Italy and here is someone telling me how to do everything. When I look at the big booking sites like Orbitz or Expedia they don't tell me how to plan a trip or how to find a hotel, how to do anything so why should I trust them. I don't even know how they get on page one of so many listings as we all know it is supposed to do with the article on the subject and since these companies don't have any articles as they are only there to sell packages or individual things I think they are there because of all the small sites linked to them. I kind of don't understand this kind of industry and think I will just have my buddy who is in it sign up for WF and he can ask the questions himself.

It seems to me that your buddy lack of business professionalism and so do you ( no offence, but hard to read that kind of writing ) . Also, wouldn't hurt to show us the website, we are pretty much guessing here trying to understand what you say. You can say that website is the cherry on top of the cake, but until you show us hard to agree on that. Not to mention that websites need professional webdesign to be trust worthy.

Anyway i have to agree with the rest of members, it's about trust. I wouldn't spent a dime on a shady site, no matter what they promise me. In fact, i am looking for the most famous companies all the times, and also testimonials from clients . And as a webmaster i can make the difference between cheap website vs real companies. Vacations require much more trust because you are going into a foreign country and stuff.

I don't understand exactly what booking you are keep talking about, because i understand your buddy explains people what to do and refer them to a booking company ?! and he doesn't make any sale, although i remember referrals go with links .
Or he does refer them correctly but those referrals don't convert ?

Anyway, if you have AWESOME content, go with ads. Traveling is a great niche for that.

But in no way try to compete with the Giants. That's the nr. 1 rule. No unique no winning

OMG i am so confused .

I think your friend is either promoting the wrong partners or maybe doesnt have traffic that will convert ( book a vacation / hotel etc... ) within 30 days of visiting your site. You would need to do look at the traffic stats to get a clear picture.

If your friend has affiliate accounts at places such as CJ, Tradedoubler etc... they will be able to get the EPM, EPC and even conversion rates in some networks that will help you promote good programs.

Also dont worry about payment issues, the top travel websites pay out millions per year through affiliate networks. If the visitors are not booking anything on your friends site also dont worry much about the site design as they book with the official website, your friends site just needs to refer them there.

If your friends site has UK visitors send me a PM as I may be able to help.

Not really sure what to make of your comment King Manus since as you said you haven't seen the web site so how could you possibly make the comment that he has a lack of lack of business professionalism how could you even make a comment like that without even seeing the site not to mention you say the same thing about me you haven't seen any of my sites either so how could you ever know.

There is nothing wrong with my explanation of what is going on with my friend's site no one else had a problem understanding it and as I said he is on page one. But for an example his hotel page explains how to book a hotel in Italy and anyone who has ever traveled in europe knows booking or maybe I should say so you will understand it, making a reservation isn't like doing the same in the US as there isn't a standard size room there like here. In the US for the most part you get either a room with a king bed or a room with two big beds. Not so in Italy where you can get a room with one bed just big enough for one person, a bed for 2 people or 2 beds that hold only one person each or 2 beds that hold 2 people each. So having someone explaining how to know what kind of room you are getting when you are looking at the symbols showing what kind of rooms are available is kind of a good idea.

This is sometimes the reason why I don't like to ask quetions on this site as there always seems to be someone who makes a comment that makes no sense what so ever and sometimes isn't even on subject. Saying hard to read that kind of writing when you haven't seen the site is kind of ridiculous. I do agree with the trust thing but as I said he is on page one Position 3 or 4 the other day when I checked it out so like I said before doesn't that position automatically come with some trust, doesn't google having it there mean something, it isn't on page one because of an ad he paid for, the site looks as good as any other site on page 1 and since it is about Italy none of the big name reservation services are there so with all the sites on page one I looked at and none of them look any better then the others all look professional how do you choose? You choose with good content and his site has good content. It isn't written in a very fancy way as so many people have said in the past ( don't talk over peoples heads ) so it isn't written so he sounds smarter or more educated then his readers. And again as I said before if you don't know any of the company names on page one how do you choose which one to trust?