Newbie ~ How to make money from a travel website?

Discussion in 'General Business' started by olddocks, Apr 19, 2007.

  1. #1
    I am new to travel industry. I am thinking of starting a travel website and make money from it. The site will provide information guides, bookings etc to particular locality. Where do i start? how do i find affiliate partners and content for my website?

    Can anybody provide me with some solid advice?:rolleyes:
     
    olddocks, Apr 19, 2007 IP
  2. eddy2099

    eddy2099 Peon

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    #2
    Maybe this will get you started http://www.affiliateguide.com/travel.html

    You could also check out the various travel sites which are put on sale in the For Sale section. Most are working off some affiliate programs and they usually will provide contents which you can use for the site. Just check out those sites for sale and it would not be difficult to dig out which affiliate programs they use.
     
    eddy2099, Apr 19, 2007 IP
    olddocks likes this.
  3. w3bmaster

    w3bmaster Notable Member

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    #3
    Adsense
    Link sales
    Afilliates programs
    Direct advertising sale that's are your options
     
    w3bmaster, Apr 19, 2007 IP
  4. byalik

    byalik Peon

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    #4
    Advertisements is the best way to go
     
    byalik, Apr 19, 2007 IP
  5. 8everything

    8everything Peon

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    #5
    Adsense is also a good mix w/ affiliate links. Since your site will be content heavy, there will be no problem to market your site (via social bookmarking).
     
    8everything, Apr 19, 2007 IP
  6. britishguy

    britishguy Prominent Member

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    #6
    I hope you have 'deep pockets' lots of money in this sector but you need lots for promotion too, to get established
     
    britishguy, Apr 19, 2007 IP
  7. gr8liverpoolfan

    gr8liverpoolfan Notable Member

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    #7
    Since you are new, you will find the going tough in the first few months. As BG said, you do need deep pockets for advertising and marketing, especially if the '' particular locality'' you have mentioned in the first post is a popular destination.

    If the location isn't as popular, but still attracts a market, you can cut down on advertising and marketing, but you'll still need to work hard nevertheless.

    Darrenc on this forum runs a hugely popular travel blog. You could take some advice from him :)
     
    gr8liverpoolfan, Apr 19, 2007 IP
  8. rosiee007

    rosiee007 Notable Member

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    #8
    You need to first do a research and make a plan of what sections you will be adding to the site. Most sites have the following main sections:

    Where to Stay
    Where to Sleep
    How to get there
    Getting Around
    Where to Eat
    Where to Go
    What to Do

    These cover almost everything you'll need to add to a travel site. Next, write content for each of these sections. You can hire someone to write content for you. Then spend some time submitting your site to directories and start getting links for it.

    Next, you should add related affiliates to the site. By this time, you should be getting a steady amount of traffic to your site. You can build upon the site from here, promote it and earn $$ from it :)
     
    rosiee007, Apr 19, 2007 IP
  9. marketjunction

    marketjunction Well-Known Member

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    #9
    You can say that again--and again, and one more time for good measure.

    Another problem that will bit many people and keep them at the low levels is that travel information changes. Sure, New York is where it was last year, but the information has changed to some degree--good places to eat, hotel reviews, etc.

    That's why travel books publish yearly and even then, there's out of date information in them.
     
    marketjunction, Apr 21, 2007 IP
  10. odysseus

    odysseus Peon

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    #10
    This industry always refreshes its information so quickly that it's difficult to keep up to it. Need to have a good strategy to keep going.
     
    odysseus, Apr 22, 2007 IP
  11. pulikuttann

    pulikuttann Banned

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    #11
    From which country u r ????

    I think adsense is the best choice for getting money.
    You can also sell the products.
     
    pulikuttann, Apr 22, 2007 IP
  12. guy123

    guy123 Guest

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    #12
    I suppose I'm using 1) link sales/sponsored blog posts and 2) adsense for my travel blogs. I don't have enough traffic yet to make affiliate promotions worthwhile. If you ever want to talk business just pm me
     
    guy123, Apr 22, 2007 IP
  13. blastboy

    blastboy Peon

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    #13
    You can sign up as affiliate for several travel site like expedia and earn some commission on it as well as adsense.
     
    blastboy, Apr 23, 2007 IP
  14. dwtk

    dwtk Guest

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    #14
    hi there.
    i'm currently doing a travel blog too and still struggling in doing it myself.
    how bout trying brain storming together?
    better to have a partner right?
    i mean exchange idea.:p
     
    dwtk, Apr 23, 2007 IP
  15. marketjunction

    marketjunction Well-Known Member

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    #15
    I'm going to point out something fairly obvious.

    If your trying to provide travel guides, you need to actually go to the places. Sure, you can do some "research" and write bland stuff, but your guide is subject to errors, which discredits you and your writing will be very boring unless you lie about being there.

    Go watch the Travel channel sometime. There's a great example of what you need to do.

    I'd recommend starting on your own city since you can go out and capture it for the web without spending a fortune.

    If you want to have a low-end site that just skims a few bucks off the industry, research writing will work fine. While I took Travel & Tourism in college and took travel writing, I've done the research method for some stuff, and it works to a degree.

    Most visitors don't want "This hotel has 600 rooms and charges $120 a night. They have Internet in all rooms." Boring. They want actual experiences with liveliness. And you have to go there to accomplish that.
     
    marketjunction, Apr 23, 2007 IP