Agents Don’t Need Big Budgets to Market Their Web Sites
by John Dalton

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There is a firm, Alexa.com, an Amazon.com subsidiary, that ranks unique hits and page views of companies' Web sites by tracking the Web activity of people who use Alexa's downloadable toolbar. As I am writing this, I am referencing the following cruise sellers and where they rank among all industry Web site activities, according to Alexa. [NOTE: The following data were current at press time, but they are subject to change.]

Royal Caribbean's Web site, for example, ranked 4,992; Carnival's site ranked 5,383; Princess ranked 8,610; NCL was 14,353; and Holland America Line was 19,289. Those are a few of the cruise lines' rankings.

As you can see, the cruise lines get a lot of activity when compared with all of the industries that are tracked. As an example, here are a few auto firms and where they rank: Toyota, 1,984; Buick, 25,901; and Oldsmobile, 285,485.

Now let's take a look at some cruise retailers.

I randomly chose the lines and the retailers. Cruise.com was ranked 23,111; CruisesOnly.com was ranked 23,589; CruiseBrothers.com was ranked 34,976; Cruise Direct was ranked 43,224; and Cruise Addicts was ranked 64,313.

As you can see, the retailers have posted rankings that compare well with the cruise lines. They know how to attract prospective cruisers to their Web sites.

What struck me was that the effectiveness of the retailers just might be far better than the cruise lines.

How many times a day are travel agents visiting the cruise lines' sites to obtain information? On the other hand, the retailers only get hits from prospective cruisers.

If the agency hits were subtracted from the cruise line totals, there is a possibility that the retailers are doing a better job of marketing via the Web than the cruise companies.

And that is the point of this article.

I hear agents always saying they can't compete with the supplier Web sites that are selling direct and bypassing travel agencies. In the case of an airline ticket, I might agree. When it comes to cruises and tours, I disagree.

Agencies don't require big budgets to market their Web sites. They require marketing skills to differentiate their companies and attract people to their sites. The successful agencies focus their energies to do just that, and they concede nothing to suppliers going direct.

Take a look at the list, and you will see companies that have branded themselves very well. Look at some of the sites, and you may think they are cluttered or not professionally done. But they have mastered branding themselves, and their sales numbers prove it.

Another aspect is this: If anyone was looking for the lowest cruise price, wouldn't it be logical to go to a Web site that represents low prices? What better name than Discount Cruises? Look at its Alexa ranking (1,028,363), and you will quickly understand you need more than a catchy name to attract people to your site.

Alexa has an added dimension to its measurement: Its traffic results also measure the average number of pages a visitor views on each site.

Of the cruise lines listed previously in this column, Royal Caribbean had the highest average of 7.1 pages. Cruise Brothers visitors averaged 12.7 pages.

The longer a prospect spends navigating the site, the better the chances they will buy. Just like our behavior in any retail store.

John Dalton is an industry consultant, trainer and speaker. He can be reached at 336.431.1596 or by e-mail at jdalton24@triad.rr.com.

[NOTE: This article is adapted from the author's earlier story that appeared in Travel Weekly.]

How does OSSN.com compare to the Web sites of other travel associations? We're very proud of our track record!

Alexa says OSSN's site ranks 134,487 among all sites on the Internet, with a very strong 8.0 page views per visitor (three-month average).

By comparison, NACTA's Web site ranks 291,615, with 4.7 page views per visitor. IATAN comes in at 295,857, with 5.0 page views. ARTA sits at 1,176,617, with 4.6 page views.

We're breathing on the heels of CLIA (110,446 and 5.0 page views), and we're not far from ASTA (83,423 and 2.6 page views).

Given the facts that OSSN focuses on one segment of the travel agency community -- home-based agents -- and that our Web site viewers spend more time with us (in terms of page views) than any other travel agent group's site, we're pleased with where we stand. (Not satisfied by a long shot, but very pleased.)

Can you recommend other resources or services that we could offer via OSSN.com that will help you as a home-based agent? Please share your thoughts with us via email: info@ossn.com!