ur visiting travelers—nearly two-million per year now—visit with
us for an industry-wide, phenomenal average session time of over
16-minutes. Next time you shop for where to advertise—ask about user
session time, you may find those who claim larger numbers, but they’ll be
reluctant to speak of session time—many are less than a minute
(that’s the cost of high usage numbers where many casual clicks may sound
promising, but don’t result in pre-qualified referrals).
2) That
key-word advertising, while effective, keeps you locked up in a market
box of those who
already know what they want. We knew — at the outset — that the unique
offerings of specialized tour operators needed expanded marketing
horizons—higher-end travelers who needed “Explore and Discover” research
opportunities. For you, that means a piece of a bigger pie, not a key-word
battle for a limited one.
So, we dedicated our web sites to encourage travelers to explore and
discover—yes, we all say that, but look at how many explorer sites
simply mean multiples of the same pre-packaged deals—travelers don’t
return to those sites when they seriously want to know how they’ll spend
their next year’s $20,000 of travel budget. That’s why our average session
time is so high.
What that means for you is that you’re appealing to a larger potential
market, those with the disposable income needed for higher-end travel (nearly 40% of our travelers spend
over $20,000 per year on multiple travels — see
CT’s demographic profile and survey). The
travelers we attract arrive here because they wish to explore and discover new
opportunities—your trip opportunities. Opportunities they may not have thought
of before (as a
keyword) to research.
3) Qualified
leads and referrals
should be just that! Pre-qualified. Not accidental or casual click-thrus.
Our Web Page Ads, for example, require a traveler to first click on your
thumbnail (after reading a Description of your Company or Trip), then they
review your Web Page Ad where they can see your Trip offerings, a recap of
your home page and “About” you as well as any articles or press releases
you’ve had us place there (a Web Page Ad is so completely effective that
for very small tour operators it can serve as a cost and marketing
effective web site!). Only after such a thorough research and review of your
advertising
do they then click-thru, and they do so at a “better than anyone” 37%
rate (relative to those who viewed your Web Page Ad).
Now, that’s pre-qualification! No one else even dares do that—risk
losing the chance to charge you for a useless click-thru. For you that
means sales and administration effectiveness—you get to deal with better
qualified leads and referrals only.
4) Traveler
credibility—we deliver on the promise of over 2,000 worldwide tour operators being
available for their research. We do that by retaining free-listings for
all (available through our search-engine) while maintaining our “Explore
and Discover” Theme and Region pages—now limited to tour operator
subscribers and Web Page Ad advertisers. The idea here was to limit
visibility (a minimum of only $5.95/month for continuing presence) in
order to deliver more qualified leads—with a nominal click-thru charge that reflects
the quality of
results delivered—WHILE building brand awareness. [remember, our travelers
return monthly as registered recipients of The Cultured Traveler
news magazine—that's currently a qualified market exceeding $100
million per year.
Subscribing advertisers enjoy the benefit of by Activity and by Country
searches. Choose as many Countries, Themes, Regions or Activities to
be visible under—doing so will can either increase or decrease your click-thru charges.
