Travel Agent Professional Jan. 2011

Travel AgentProfessional

4 A Sunday At the MallBy Les-Lee Roland

6 Clients for LifeBy Mitchell J. Schlesinger

22 Blogging 101By Sherrie Laskin

January 2011Issue 1

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Travel Agent Professional TAP

2011

Ad In

dex

64 A Sunday at the MallBy Les-Lee RolandOwner of The Package Deal

66 Clients for Life:The Dollars & Sense of Client LoyaltyBy Mitchell J. SchlesingerVice President, Sales & Marketing Voyages to Antiquity

10 Are We Obsolete?By Rusty Pickett, ECCShellback Cruises

12 2011 – A New Year & New Opportunities By Mary BrutscherFormer Host Agency Owner & Travel Educational Instructor

18 Five Hundred Twenty Five Thousand Six Hundred MinutesBy Scott KoepfVice President of Sales Avoya Travel/America’s Vacation Center

22 Blogging 101 Plain & Simple By Sherrie Laskin, ACCNACTA Chapter Director, North & East Central Florida

January

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Travel AgentProfessional

January 2011 Issue 2

Travel Agent Professional has its roots in Home BasedTrade, the first magazine of its kind, started by Joel Abelsin 2004. Joel and Lenore Abels ran Travel Trade for near-ly half a century – it was started by her grandfather, JohnS. Lewis, and her father, Sidney Lewis, in 1929, and theytook the publication over after her grandfather’s passing.

Under Joel’s direction, the company grew to be one of thetravel agent industry’s leading publications, reaching more than 45,000 agents throughoutNorth America. It spawned a famous series of trade shows and three monthly magazines –Cruise Trade, Tour Trade and Home Based Trade.

The Abels also garnered enormous respect – Joel received the Neal Award, called “thePulitzer Prize of the business press,” for his hard-hitting editorials.

On a personal note, after working with Joel for over a decade and staying with him until theend, I grew to truly care for and respect the man. He was like a second father to me. Joelwas old school, he stood by his word and believed in his work. There will never be another.

While nobody can replace this industry legend, we’re hoping that this new publication, whichreunites the original Home Based Trade editorial board, will be able to carry on his passionfor travel and those who sell it.

Ann M. Hoek

Travel Agent ProfessionalPO Box 120202

Staten Island, NY 10312E-mail:

mailto:[email protected]:

718.227.7541

Ann M. HoekPublisher/Creative Design

Bonnie WallingEditor

Meet Our Editorial BoardMitchell J. Schlesinger

Vice President, Sales & MarketingVoyages to Antiquity

www.voyagestoantiquity.com

Mary BrutscherFormer Host Agency Owner &Travel Educational Instructor

mailto:[email protected]

Rusty Pickett, ECCShellback Cruises

www.shellbackcruises.com

Les-Lee RolandOwner of The Package Deal

Scott KoepfVice President of Sales

Avoya Travel/America’s Vacation Center

www.JoinAvoya.com

Sherry Laskin, ACCNACTA Chapter Director, North & East Central Florida

www.sherrylaskin.com

Sherrie FunkCo-owner & President of

Just Cruisin’ Pluswww.justcruisinplus.com

ContributionsLee Rosen, CEOLeisure Pops

www.leisurepops.com

This online magazine is dedicated tothe memory of Joel Abels, TravelTrade's editor and publisher. Joeland his life's work may be gone, butwith your help it can live on.

Joel, meant so much to many people in many different ways. Not only was he the most

knowledgeable person in the travel industry, he was always accessible to everyone.

That means CEOs, politicians, industry leaders and travel agents. He had the keenest

mind, a great memory and a sense of loyalty that never would be compromised. And I

cannot forget his wit, which reminded me of Groucho Marx. I remember when he was

handing out prizes at a CRUISE-A-THON, and he started to read from a sheet of paper

describing a 2-night stay somewhere. He stopped in mid-sentence and said, “This is a

lousy prize, I’m not giving it out. Let’s find something better.” I have been a self-educat-

ed travel agent for over 15 years, always Home Based. I read every trade journal and

went to many CRUISE-A-THONs to gather more knowledge. When I moved into a new

community four years ago, my homeowners association was not pleased that “anyone”

would be working out of their home. When they threatened me with a lawsuit unless I

closed up my business within 60 days, I was appalled. I remembered some of Joel’s edi-

torials about the Home Based. I gathered some old issues, contacted Joel and was sur-

prised that he took the time to talk to a simple Home Based agent. Then, with ammuni-

tion in hand, I demanded a meeting with the board of directors of the association. I laid

out my case, so succinctly that within five minutes, the board backed down totally. Joel

even took the time to contact me afterwards just to ask how I did. I told him that not

only did I win, but the Governor of Florida had also set up a task force to assist others

who had problems with homeowners associations. Joel asked me to write about it. My

first article in Home Based Trade was “Look Out Big Brother, Here Comes Your Big

Sister.” That one piece led to monthly articles and has expanded to my Flips and Flops

column, and becoming a motivational speaker. And finally, going to the stage to accept

the Finalist Award in the Travel Agent of 2006 election. Joel opened many doors for me

— as for so many others. Joel has mentored every agent who has read Travel Trade

and Home Based. He has instilled in me not just to do the best for my clients, but also

to share the best with other agents. Lenore was his true love. To see his face light up

when he talked about their long time romance is the picture I will always remember.

Joel was a “Purrrrfect Gentleman.”

— Les-Lee RolandReprinted from Feb. 2007 Home Based Trade with writer permission

Joel M. Abels Legend In the Travel Industry

April 1927 to January 2007

Visit www.voyagestoantiquity.com

By

L

es

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ee

R

ol

an

d

January 2011

Maybe you saw the

segment on the TODAYshow about a couple who

got married at the bride’s

favorite store

— T.J. MAXX

When she took the idea for the ceremony to the head peopleat the store, they offered to throw her wedding. They knew the

value of the publicity for their store, as well as the chain of stores

throughout the country.

The bride walked down the aisle next to the shoe department, and

admits she even stopped for a second when she saw a pair of wed-

gies on sale. .

Travel agents should learn from this episode and find ways to think

out of the box.

Consider the popular women’s fashion store, Chico’s, always locat-

ed in a shopping center or a strip mall. Okay, it’s not a travel suppli-

er…or is it? A Sarasota, FL branch offers a seminar on how to pack

for an 18-day trip using just a carry-on.

Women sign up for this event — held on a Sunday at 10 a.m. - and

these are women who like to travel. And we all know they are the

decision makers for the family travel. Also, according to statistics,

women outlive men — especially in Florida — which means that

lots of women travel together.

Each attendee wears a tag with their name as well as the destination

4 A Sunday

Les-Lee RolandOwner of The Package Deal

5

Travel Agent Professional

they want to visit. Chico’s welcomes travel agents to

attend, to hand out info, to network, and to share

their expertise. This cross-marketing with an

extremely popular retailer is a win-win.

Look at the opportunities here, and picture this: You

have a group booking, and you invite your clients to

Chico’s to learn how to pack for their adventure

and to hand out their documents. Perhaps you

arrange for a drawing for a gift card. Chico’s gets

new clients, you have a unique way to hand out the

documents. And all of this happens when the store

is closed, so your invitees feel really special. Hey,

Chico’s even provided the refreshments!

Or another choice is to invite your prospects — both

for clothing and travel — and use the same scenario as

above. And if you don’t have a Chico’s in your area,

move — or find something close to it in your area.

We’ve been told that marketing with bridal salons,

florists, and other vendors can bring referrals. Usually

you have to leave flyers on a counter or bulletin board,

and hopefully you get a phone call or

E-mail response. Linking to these retailers can be

rewarding, but the clothing store/travel agent con-

nection is much more hands-on.

In this case, where the retailer encourages the trav-

el agents to participate, the sales are greater. When

I attended the seminar at Chico’s as a customer, I

saw a travel agent from another office, armed with

handouts. Both of us worked the room with no

competition. She got her leads, and I got mine. Plus,

the store earned a lot of revenue on clothing sales.

And while you’re there, wear a name tag with your

agency logo, or perhaps a pin saying “Tell me about

your Bucket List.” You’ll be surprised at the num-

ber of strangers who will start a conversation

with you.

And kudos to both Shari and Annette, employees

at Chico’s who provide personalized customer

service that is rare in today’s retail market and

they furnished a forum for the agents and the

attentive audience. They were so adept on what

they did, this could easily be a segment on a local

news show, but that’s another marketing idea.

After leaving Chico’s, a few steps away was Williams

Sonoma — the great store that offers everything

for your kitchen and your palate. At this location,

on most Sunday mornings, again, before the shop-

ping mall even opens for business, Williams Sonoma

offers a free cooking seminar.

I put on my chef thinking cap to suggest to the

manager that perhaps they can focus on items

from one country, and I could bring info on pack-

ages to that location. We’re setting up a date for

tapas and a visit to the Picasso Museum. It that’s a

success, than it’s Thai food. Just be sure to suggest

a menu to work with items that the store can sell.

Going to my car, I passed Home Depot, nah…no

ideas there… and I went home.

I guess our job is not just a nine to fiver — it is a

seven day round the clock, open to new opportu-

nities wherever you go. And by the way, I bought

six outfits that will fit into my carry-on.

At the Mall

6

By

M

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ch

el

l

J.

S

ch

le

si

ng

er

January 2011

Mitchell J. SchlesingerVice President, Sales & MarketingVoyages to [email protected]

Let’s start with the basics. If you don’t do this now, but have actually have thedata somewhere, make sure you have an organized file for each and every one ofyour clients reflecting:

All of the trips they have booked with you;

The number of days of each trip;

The ticket cost per person for each trip;

The destinations to which they have traveled;

The categories of travel (cruises, tours, FIT) booked;

Types of accommodations purchased;

The time intervals between trips purchased;

Special requests they have made when booking trips;

Personal information you know about them;

All social and civic organizations to which they belong;

Hobbies, passions etc in which they are involved;

Birthdays and anniversaries of all family members;

Contact information for siblings and relatives (irrespective of where they live);

The names of everyone they have ever referred to you.

Clients for Life:

The Dollars & The concept of “Clients for Life” is simple andstarts with understanding just how essential your

clients are to your business success. The key word

is essential. With the absence of a loyal client base,

it is very difficult to build a thriving, long term busi-

ness. This series of articles will focus on the impor-

tance of client loyalty and the myriad of steps

required to ensure that you are achieving this and

benefiting from it financially.

7


One of the great clichés in the busi-

ness world is; “Failing to plan is plan-

ning to fail.” And while it is a cliché, it

is one businesses great truisms.

Regardless of which software system

you use, or just create files in your

computer, if you are not accumulating

the information above, you are plan-

ning to fail. This information is the

lifeblood of your business because of

what flows from it.

For those with very up-to-date records,

you have the ability to calculate the

value of every one of your clients in

terms of their impact on your annual

revenue. And the impact they provide

not only comes in the form of their

own travel, but much more importantly,

the business they refer to you.

Think of client loyalty like a legal

pyramid scheme. Every time they

refer someone to you who books a

trip, it creates another branch system

on a tree with the next generation of

referrals from the original ones. This

is crucial, as it costs significantly less

to generate business via repeat and

referral clients compared to the cost

of generating brand new customers.

A theme of this series that will be

repeated over and over and over is

Sense of Client Loyalty

(continued on page 8)

January 2011

the concept of managing your clients’ travel over

time. This is all about your focus on their demo-

graphics and psychographics which are inextricably

linked to what they buy and when they buy it, and

how that changes as they age and go through the

various stages of life. The travel they purchase

when they are in their 30s with two young chil-

dren at home will be very different than what they

will want 25 years later as empty nesters. It is up

to you to effectively manage the travel purchase

pattern year after year and decade after decade.

Of course, this presumes that you performed the

necessary steps to insure that they will still be

your clients as time passes.

This attempt to inject concern comes from three

specific standpoints. The first is simple. If you don’t

dote on your clientele, they have no real reason to

be loyal to you, or consider you “brand centric”as

a service provider and therefore purchase trips

from other agencies. The second, are all the out-

side sources playing siren songs to your clients

attempting to lure them into purchasing their trav-

el through alternative resources. This includes not

only other agencies, but more obtrusively, product

suppliers attempting to enhance their direct sales.

The third is financial. For the better part of the

past 20 years, through a litany of educational

venues, there has been a consistent effort to con-

vey the concept that your clients are like an annu-

ity. Just as investments grow and generate incre-

mental interest income, the same can be said of

longtime clients as they age.

As they reach empty nester status and get into

their 50s & 60s, these clients begin to travel to far-

ther flung destinations, spend more time traveling,

purchase more expensive travel alternatives, travel

more frequently and book their trips well in

advance of the actual travel. All of which results in

commissions which continually grow over time like

interest on investments.

I wrote this first article presuming that those of

you who are reading it and have gotten to this

point, are divided into two main groups. The first

group has the information above and either real-

izes now or is calculating immediately and will

quickly recognize the actual value of existing

clients. The second group is likely in some form of

panic because they do not have the above informa-

tion in an organized fashion and are not taking full

advantage of what value their clients provide. The

goal is that anyone in group two is making a

promise to move into group one.

The notion of “clients for life” is simply that your

clients are worth more to you as they age both in

terms of repeat travel and referrals. It is your chal-

lenge to retain these “client annuities” as they con-

tinue to book travel through their lifetime or lose

this lucrative business. It is just common “sense”

to protect these dollars.

8One of the great clichés in the business world is; “Failing to

plan is planning to fail.” And while it is a cliché, it is one

businesses great truisms. ‘ ’

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Showcase


A friend of mine recently posted a link on Facebook from

the Huffington Post titled, “You’re Out — 20 Things That Became

Obsolete This Decade” by Bianca Bosker. Number two on her list is

travel agents. I don’t know what planet this lady is living on, or what

she considers a vacation, but there are numerous other studies that

state that use of a travel agent is on the rise, due the complexity of

booking a significant adventure.

10

By

R

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ty

P

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tt

,

EC

C

January 2011

Are We

Obsolete?

Rusty Pickett, ECCShellback Cruises www.shellbackcruises.com

She states, “The proliferation of sites like Kayak,

Orbitz, Travelocity, and Hipmunk, which have

empowered consumers to find their own fares

and easily book their own flights, together with

the rise of Web sites and apps that give travelers

the information they need to plan their own itin-

eraries, have changed the travel industry in drastic

ways. The days of recruiting a travel agent to book

flights, find hotels, and organize tours are on their

way out - and already gone for many.”

I certainly don’t disagree with her about booking

flights and the one night/several night hotel stay,

which most of us probably want our clients to do

anyway as there are only a few dollars in commis-

sion resulting from most of these types of book-

ings. Her statement on tours, however, is just nuts!

When was the last time you saw one of the

major Internet booking sites advertise cruises and

tours? I think it’s been years. Based on her state-

ment, I guess her idea of a good vacation is a

Holiday Inn Express in Orlando (not that I have

any problem with Holiday Inn Express!)

If you haven’t thought about why your clients

should use you, it’s worth taking a few minutes to

do so. Here are some ideas from a flyer that

Vacation.com produced for its member agents to

include with information we send out to clients:

• It’s a travel agent’s job to know the world’s

greatest destinations inside and out to provide

exceptional counseling to our clients;

• Our expertise will save our clients time and

effort in planning that next great adventure;

• We have access to discounted and limited time

offers as well as exclusive offers not available to

the masses on the Internet;

• We can customize vacations through use of

amenities and options many may not have even

thought of;

• Most importantly, we are an advocate for our

clients. Try and get some personalized service out

of an internet site, when plans go awry!

The major Internet sites have created the percep-

tion (which some sages consider is 90% of reality)

that they are cheaper. They don’t want the public to

know the truth! We need to keep our travel agent

tool bag full of the latest tricks and make sure our

clients know just exactly how valuable we are, and

we need to keep reminding them of that fact!

Happy New Year!


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Contact information for Mary ismailto:[email protected]


12

By

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January 2011

AsI write this article, it is a few days before Christmas.

After leaving the office, I ran to the grocery store to get the

ingredients needed for a Christmas Eve family get-together,

Christmas dinner and a few necessities. Wow! I was hit with

sticker shock! I can’t believe how much the cost of feeding a

family is going up — predictions for 2011 say that we could see

an increase in food costs of as much as a whopping 20%!

2011 – A New Year &

New Opportunities

Sometimes, it seems like everything is goingup except our take-home pay, and we wonder

how we can possibly survive. Well, I am here to

tell you that, YES, YOU CAN! You must beproactive and when things change, change with

them. Roll with the flow.

How can you address the concerns your clients

have in these uncertain times and close the deal?

It can be done. Let me give you an example.

In 2001, I ended up temporarily out of the travel

industry. I had closed my agency down and moved

my clientele with me to another agency located in

downtown Charleston, SC. I became the manager

there and things were going well. Of course, we

all know what happened next — 9/11.

The agency had so many cancellations that the

owner had to let every single employee go —

myself included. I managed to hang onto a few

groups who were cruising the following year and

had decided to not cancel, but instead to wait and

see how things shaped up.

I accepted a temporary position working for one

of the nation’s largest health insurance compa-

nies. I enjoyed the job and the people, but I


January 2011

missed the travel industry. So, in February of 2002, facing not

only the aftermath of 9/11 but also the SARS and norovirus

outbreaks, I reopened my host agency. However, I knew I had

to shift my focus from what I was doing to something that

could help address the fears of my clients. Cruising had excel-

lent prices and I knew it was a great opportunity to go after

the corporate business and close-to-home travel.

I’m happy to report that not only did my business do well that

year, but it was one of the best years ever, as was the next

year. In fact, I did so well that commission on just one of my

groups exceeded $30,000!

This is another one of those difficult years. Look at theconcerns of most travelers right now:

Air travel. Let’s be honest. Air travel is a pain. Itis frustrating and a hassle. Some people are intimidated by the

x-ray machines and pat downs. They are paying extra for bag-

gage. The list of consumer gripes goes on — but they still

need to fly in order to accomplish their dream trip. It’s up to

you to do research, address their concerns and calm their

fears. Numerous independent studies have been done on the

x-ray machines, so do some research on these studies and let

your customers know about them. Depending on where the

clients are going, look into pre-shipping luggage. You might also

suggest a closer destination or port.

Confusion. A lot of people are still unsure ofwhether or not they need passports or travel insurance, as

well as what they can and cannot take on planes and ships.

Take the time to talk to them and explain everything, and put

it in writing! Not only can they review what they’ve been told,

but have them sign a statement or a copy noting that they have

received the information.


Ready… Set… Go mark your calendar for Technology & Marketing University 2011. No matter what tools you rely on to run your business, TMU has something for everyone:

every

knowledge on the hottest industry issues

and technology

investment to finish first.

Save the date: May 17-19, 2011

MGM Grand, Las Vegas

www.sabretravelnetwork.com/tmu

16

January 2011

Money is tight, so find your customers something

they can afford! You may not get a high commis-

sion right now, but make your customer happy and

send them some place that’s fun and offers relax-

ation that they can afford now. When they can take

that dream vacation, chances are they will come

back to you. Another option is to book them far

enough in advance that they can make payments.

Look for current or unusual trends and sit down

and make a plan, create proposals and go after the

business! Don’t sit and wait for it to come to you,

or you may just be disappointed. The most suc-

cessful agents are those who not only offer excel-

lent customer service and product knowledge,

but go after the business.

Look for what provides the best commission for

you and the best perks for your customers! If you

own an agency and you are not affiliated with a

consortium, I highly suggest you start investigating

the benefits offered by today’s consortiums. I hap-

pen to know there are some pretty good ones

out there that offer a big bang for the bucks!

If you are an independent contractor and it seems

like you get no support from your host and are

hard pressed to think of any benefits that you are

receiving by your affiliation with them, change

hosts! Again, there are some really great hosts

out there. In fact, I even affiliate with a host and

have done so since selling my host agency.

Make January and February, 2011 two of your

busiest months. It’s wave season and it’s time to

look at a new way of doing business. Don’t give

up on an idea just because you think it will not

work. You will never know unless you try.

When you do try, if it doesn’t work the first, sec-

ond, or third time, try it a fourth time. It was

about my sixth try that gave me the huge group

of 436 passengers on one cruise. It was some-

thing I had never done before, didn’t have the

knowledge, but I sure thought it would be great if

I got the business.

If I can do it, so can you. Make 2011 your most

profitable year yet!

If I can do it, so can you. Make 2011 your most

profitable year yet! ‘ ’

Happy New Year!


CST

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© 2010 Avoya Travel/America’s Vacation Center

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Five HundredTwenty Five Thousand

Six Hundred Minutes


18

By

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January 2011

Scott KoepfVice President of SalesAvoya Travel/America’s Vacation Centerwww.JoinAvoya.com

Even if you are not familiar with the musical Rent, you have

probably heard the signature song from this revolutionary rock musi-

cal. 525,600 minutes are in a year and, as the song goes on, it questions

how do we measure the value of that time? We all know that time

management is a continuing challenge, but it may be the most impor-

tant skill for success in any career.


What is LeisurePops?Leisure Pops is a point-of-

sale, merchandizing software

application that runs on an

agent’s desktop and helps

travel agents to sell more

preferred suppliers, more

add-on products and more

upgrades.

Leisure Pops runs in the

background on an Agent's

desktop and then “Pops” or

reminds an agent via a pop

up message of opportunities

to better serve their client

— as well as make more

commissions.

Lee RosenPresident, Leisure Pops

Leisure Pops: A New Application from an Old Friend

For more information go to www.leisurepops.com

• Sell more preferred suppliers.

• Sell more add-on products.

• Earn more commissions.

• Better service your clients.

The Power of Pops

20There are many experts who now think the term

“time management” is actually passé, as we can’t real-

ly manage time at all. We all have access to the same

number of minutes in a year and so that number can’t

actually be managed. However, what we do with

those minutes and the decisions we make in how to

make best use of those minutes will be what sepa-

rates us from each other and our goals or desires.

Even the terminology of “balancing our time” is

considered wrong these days. Most of us have been

taught to balance our priorities and our time

between work, family, friends, fun and more. The

simple truth is that those areas will never be in bal-

ance. For most of us, we spend more time working

than we do with our family. Yet, a recent survey

found that over 90% of people said family was their

first priority.

So, if family is our top priority, but work is our top

time user, then if our goal is balance, we would be

considered failures. I don’t think that is the right

conclusion and I agree that the word balance is not

the right term for how we spend our 525,600 min-

utes. Trying to balance time spent to priorities will

not only be an exercise in futility, but also will cause

depression.

As we begin a new year and many of us make resolu-

tions (such as to stop procrastinating!), now is the

time to set the best way to determine how you want

to spend your time. I will once again rely on the

lyrics to this beautiful song, as it asks what the “mea-

sure” of a year is. Is it the things we do, the places we

go, the sales we make, the achievement of our goals?

Those are all important and can certainly be a part

of your plan, but the real important measurement of

the time you spent is, just like the song says, LOVE!

For those of you who think I am too over the top

here and way too sentimental, then consider this

tough love! When all is said and done, love is the

main thing we should strive for as the legacy of our

own 525,600 minutes. But this is not all emotional

blabbering, as it applies to our businesses and how

we spend time there.

If we spend all of our minutes processing transac-

tions and crossing items off of our To Do lists,

then the end result may not bring the true

achievements you want. You are in the travel busi-

ness, but actually you are in the people business. If

your focus is on loving your clients, then they will

love you in return, and all of the sales and business

goals will follow from there.

So sing these lyrics below and ask yourself, as you

set your resolutions, how to measure your year.

525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear.525,600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life?How about love? How about love? How

about love? Measure in love.Seasons of love.

January 2011

By

S

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,

AC

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January 2011


Sherry Laskin, ACCNACTA Chapter Director, North & East Central Florida www.sherrylaskin.com

Unless you’ve been living in a cave without Wi-Fi,

chances are you’ve heard and read about the importance of hav-

ing a blog. But do you really know what a blog is and how to

start one? Travel agents and other business people tell me they

know about blogging, would like to have a blog but don’t have a

clue where to begin.

Does the mere mention of widgets, plugins and platforms put

you over the edge? If you read this entire article, I promise you

will be able to go forth and prosper into the brave new blogging

world. You will be a blogger.

A blog = “web log.” Basically, a blog looks like a website butwith one big difference: it’s interactive. You very easily add new

information to your blog and so can others in the form of a

comment or they can even upload their videos from the vacation

that you sold to them! A blog is simply an online journal.

Once your blog is set up, you log in, type about something of inter-

est to your readers, post it and that’s it! Sound simple enough? It is.

Keep reading and I will tell you how to start a blog, plain and simple

Before we get to the nuts and bolts, it’s important for you to under-

stand why you need to have a blog. If you’re like most travel agents,

you probably have a static website; one of those cookie cutter web-

sites that you pay a company $19.95 a month for someone else to

maintain a travel offers box on your website. If you are lucky you

might be able to maintain one page on your own. Nice, but….

Do you consistently send out a personalized email newsletter

once or twice a week to all of your clients? If you do, how many

of your clients actually read all of it? They have to sift through

Blogging 101

Plain & Simple 22

TAP’s new blog... We would love to hear from you...http://blog.travelagentprofessional.com/

23


the information which takes time. You have to

invade their space, catch their attention and hope

they don’t hit “delete.”

What a perfect world it would be if your clients

looked forward to getting the updates to your blog

that they have asked to receive! This is what blog-

ging is all about. I call it passive marketing. A short

and timely article every day or so keeps you in front

of the competition and in the top of their minds.

Where to begin. First, you need to think up aname for your blog; for example, Ziggy’s Travel

Tidbits. Next, you need to register your blog name

with a blog host. The two most popular free blog-

ging “platforms” are Blogger and Wordpress.

With a free blog account, your blog name, if available,

would look like: ziggystraveltidbits.blogspot.com or

ziggystraveltidbits.wordpress.com.

Go to Blogger.com or Wordpress.com, signup for an account and create your blog name.

Time elapsed: five minutes. You now have a blog. In

five minutes you have opened the door to become

an author, blogger, travel expert and web designer.

And you haven’t done anything complicated!

Next step: follow the arrows or directions to the“Post” page and start to write about something.

Maybe a news blurb about the return of fuel sur-

charges on Princess and Cunard. Have a large family-

based clientele? Write about the arrival of the newest

Disney ship. Three to four hundred words are fine.

Find a photo online (usually from the cruise line’s

website or one of your own) to accompany the

article and upload it to your new blog. It’s almost

like a paint-by-numbers kit. The best feeling is

when you hit “publish” for the first time.

Suddenly, you can view your blog as the entire

world sees it. Pretty cool, huh.

Of course now is where you can get a bit creative.

On both Blogger and Wordpress you can choose

from a variety of fonts, themes, colors and add-

ons. Right now we are just creating a basic blog to

get you comfortable with it. Keep it simple. You

can change all of the creative options at any time

without losing your posts. It’s fun to try different

themes once you have a couple of posts uploaded.

If you don’t like the way it looks, click “undo.”

To recap, here’s what you need to do: 1. Think of a name for your blog

2. Sign up at either blogger.com or wordpress.com

and register your new blog name.

3. Follow the easy-to-do directions to type and

post to your new blog.

4. Press “Publish.”

5. Breathed a sigh of relief at your new accom-

plishment. It’s that simple!

That’s all there is to having your very own blog

site. It’s free, easy and fun to do. The first time

that someone leaves a comment for you, I guaran-

tee you’ll be elated.

In future articles, I’ll explain about paid blogs, tell you

how to get people to read your blog, the do’s and

don’ts of blog-marketing, getting the search engines

to find you and making money from your blog.

When your new blog is set up, send me the link at:

[email protected]. I’d love to read it! You

can check out my blog at www.cruisemaven.com.

SAILING 11 SHIPS TO EUROPEAN DESTINATIONS IN 2011 Royal Caribbean is looking forward to bringing 11 or our ships to Europe, Dubai and the Mediterranean this year. Clients will experience the best of each, from Rome’s Coliseum to Venice’s romantic gondolas, and only unpack once. Visit CruisingPower.com and book your clients now.

WHERE HISTORY WAS BORN.WHERE MEMORIES ARE MADE.

©2010 Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Ships registered in the Bahamas. 10021866 • 12/22/10

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Travel Agent Professional Jan. 2011

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