Travel Agent Professional Jan. 2011 by Travel Agent Professional

Travel Agent Professional January 2011 Issue 1

4 6 22

A Sunday At the Mall By Les-Lee Roland

Clients for Life By Mitchell J. Schlesinger

Blogging 101 By Sherrie Laskin

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anuary

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By Les-Lee Roland Owner of The Package Deal

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10 12

Clients for Life: The Dollars & Sense of Client Loyalty

By Mitchell J. Schlesinger Vice President, Sales & Marketing Voyages to Antiquity

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Are We Obsolete?

By Rusty Pickett, ECC Shellback Cruises

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2011 – A New Year & New Opportunities

By Mary Brutscher Former Host Agency Owner & Travel Educational Instructor

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Five Hundred Twenty Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes

By Scott Koepf Vice President of Sales Avoya Travel/America’s Vacation Center

Ad Index

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Blogging 101 Plain & Simple By Sherrie Laskin, ACC NACTA Chapter Director, North & East Central Florida

http://www.autoeurope.com/ Auto Europe .........................IFC & 9 Http://www.JoinAvoya.com Avoya Travel/AVC.........................15 http://www.leisurepops.com/ Leisure Pops ...........................19, 21

Travel Agent Professional

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/ Royal Caribbean Line ...................BC http://www.trams.com/ TRAMS .........................................15 http://www.myhosttravelagency.com Travel Planners Int’l .............11 & 13 http://us.voyagestoantiquity.com/ Voyages to Antiquity ......................3

2011

A Sunday at the Mall

Travel Agent Professional January 2011 Issue 2

Travel Agent Professional PO Box 120202 Staten Island, NY 10312 E-mail: mailto:TAP.com@verizon.net Phone: 718.227.7541 Ann M. Hoek Publisher/Creative Design Bonnie Walling Editor

Joel M. Abels

Legend In the Travel Industry April 1927 to January 2007 Travel Agent Professional has its roots in Home Based Trade, the first magazine of its kind, started by Joel Abels in 2004. Joel and Lenore Abels ran Travel Trade for nearly half a century – it was started by her grandfather, John S. Lewis, and her father, Sidney Lewis, in 1929, and they took the publication over after her grandfather’s passing. Under Joel’s direction, the company grew to be one of the travel agent industry’s leading publications, reaching more than 45,000 agents throughout North America. It spawned a famous series of trade shows and three monthly magazines – Cruise Trade, Tour Trade and Home Based Trade.

Meet Our Editorial Board

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

Mitchell J. Schlesinger Vice President, Sales & Marketing Voyages to Antiquity www.voyagestoantiquity.com

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

Mary Brutscher Former Host Agency Owner & Travel Educational Instructor mailto:cruisefacecruises@yahoo.com Rusty Pickett, ECC Shellback Cruises www.shellbackcruises.com Les-Lee Roland Owner of The Package Deal Scott Koepf Vice President of Sales Avoya Travel/ America’s Vacation Center www.JoinAvoya.com Sherry Laskin, ACC NACTA Chapter Director, North & East Central Florida www.sherrylaskin.com Sherrie Funk Co-owner & President of Just Cruisin’ Plus www.justcruisinplus.com

Contributions Lee Rosen, CEO Leisure Pops www.leisurepops.com This online magazine is dedicated to the memory of Joel Abels, Travel Trade's editor and publisher. Joel and his life's work may be gone, but with your help it can live on.

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

Ann M. Hoek 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-educated 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 editorials about the Home Based. I gathered some old issues, contacted Joel and was surprised that he took the time to talk to a simple Home Based agent. Then, with ammunition 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 Roland Reprinted from Feb. 2007 Home Based Trade with writer permission

Visit www.voyagestoantiquity.com

A Sunday

B y L e s - L e e R o l a n d

Maybe you saw the segment on the TODAY show about a couple who got married at the bride’s favorite store — T.J. MAXX

Les-Lee Roland Owner of The Package Deal

When she took the idea for the ceremony to the head people at 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 wedgies 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 located in a shopping center or a strip mall. Okay, it’s not a travel supplier…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

January 2011

At the Mall 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.

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 number of strangers who will start a conversation with you.

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!

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.

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.

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 shopping mall even opens for business, Williams Sonoma offers a free cooking seminar.

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 connection is much more hands-on. In this case, where the retailer encourages the travel 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.

Travel Agent Professional

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 packages 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 opportunities wherever you go. And by the way, I bought six outfits that will fit into my carry-on.

6 Clients for Life: By

The Dollars &

Mitchell J.

The concept of “Clients for Life” is simple and

Schlesinger

starts 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 business. This series of articles will focus on the importance of client loyalty and the myriad of steps Mitchell J. Schlesinger Vice President, Sales & Marketing Voyages to Antiquity m.schlesinger@voyagestoantiquity.com

required to ensure that you are achieving this and benefiting from it financially.

Let’s start with the basics. If you don’t do this now, but have actually have the data somewhere, make sure you have an organized file for each and every one of your 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. January 2011

Sense of Client Loyalty One 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. Regardless of which software system you use, or just create files in your computer, if you are not accumulating the information above, you are planning 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 (continued on page 8)

Travel Agent Professional

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One 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.

the concept of managing your clients’ travel over time. This is all about your focus on their demographics 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 children 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 outside sources playing siren songs to your clients attempting to lure them into purchasing their travel 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 convey the concept that your clients are like an annuity. 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 farther 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 realizes 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 information 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 challenge to retain these “client annuities” as they continue to book travel through their lifetime or lose this lucrative business. It is just common “sense” to protect these dollars.

January 2011

Showcase

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FlyInternational.com Wants You to Be a Part of The Royal Wedding “Share the excitement with packages to London beginning at $757” Auto Europe’s Tour Division, FlyInternational.com, is offering great hotel and airfare packages to London for you to be there when the royal knot is tied! Join the celebration in Westminster Abbey on Friday, April 29th, 2011 to see history in the making when Prince William and Kate Middleton wed. Packages to London begin at $757 per person based upon two people traveling and include roundtrip airfare to London, fuel surcharge and three nights hotel stay at a 3 star hotel. Additional packages are available including 4 and 5 star hotels and you can also add car rental or a chauffeur drive service to your package. Package prices are per person based on 2 people traveling coach airfare with minimum 3 night hotel stay. Prices are subject

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to availability at time of booking and may be changed or discontinued without notice. Blackout dates, minimum-night stays, seasonal surcharges, and other restrictions may apply. Pricing is based on lowest price point during the validity period. Rates based on travel April 27th, 2011 through May 1st, 2011. Auto Europe services over 8,000 car rental locations in over 130 countries worldwide. In addition, through their tour division, FlyInternational.com they offer scheduled airfare to Europe with over thirty carriers and service 3, 4 & 5 star worldwide hotels. For additional information contact your local sales representative or FlyInternational.com at (888) 325-5544. Visit their web site at www.FlyInternational.com

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A re We

Obsolete?

Rusty Pickett,

A friend of mine recently posted a link on Facebook from

ECC

Rusty Pickett, ECC Shellback Cruises www.shellbackcruises.com

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.

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 itineraries, 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 commission resulting from most of these types of bookings. 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 statement, 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 perception (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! January 2011

Showcase

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2011 –

By Mary Brutscher

A New Year & New Opportunities As

I 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%!

Contact information for Mary is mailto:cruisefacecruises@yahoo.com

Sometimes, it seems like everything is going up 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 be proactive and when things change, change with them. Roll with the flow.

downtown Charleston, SC. I became the manager there and things were going well. Of course, we all know what happened next — 9/11.

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.

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.

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

I accepted a temporary position working for one of the nation’s largest health insurance companies. I enjoyed the job and the people, but I (continued on page 14)

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 excellent 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 the concerns of most travelers right now:

Air travel.

Let’s be honest. Air travel is a pain. It is frustrating and a hassle. Some people are intimidated by the x-ray machines and pat downs. They are paying extra for baggage. 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 of whether 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. (continued on page 16)

January 2011

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: UÊÊ ÃVÕÃÃÊ `i>ÃÊÌ Ê «À ÛiÊivv V i VÞÊ>ÌÊ Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê every ÃÌ>}iÊ vÊÌ iÊL }Ê«À ViÃÃ Ê Ê Ê Ê UÊÊ ÃÌi Ê>ÃÊiÝ«iÀÌÃÊÃ >ÀiÊÌ i ÀÊ Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê knowledge on the hottest industry issues UÊÊ i>À ÊÌ iÊ >ÌiÃÌÊÌ «ÃÊ Ê >À iÌ } Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê and technology - >«iÊÕ«ÊÞ ÕÀÊLÕÃ iÃÃÊ> `Ê > iÊÌ iÊ Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê Ê investment to finish first.

Save the date: May 17-19, 2011 MGM Grand, Las Vegas www.sabretravelnetwork.com/tmu

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If I can do it, so can you. Make 2011 your most profitable year yet!

Money is tight, so find your customers something they can afford! You may not get a high commission right now, but make your customer happy and send them some place that’s fun and offers relaxation 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 successful agents are those who not only offer excellent 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 happen 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, second, 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 something 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!

Happy New Year! January 2011

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Travel Agent Professional

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By Scott Koepf

Five Hundred Twenty Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes

Scott Koepf Vice President of Sales Avoya Travel/Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Vacation Center www.JoinAvoya.com

Even

if you are not familiar with the musical Rent, you have probably heard the signature song from this revolutionary rock musical. 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 important skill for success in any career. (continued on page 20)

January 2011

Leisure Pops: A New Application from an Old Friend Lee Rosen President, Leisure Pops

What is Leisure Pops?

eisure 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

The Power of Pops

• Sell more preferred suppliers. • Sell more add-on products. • Earn more commissions. • Better service your clients.

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. For more information go to www.leisurepops.com

20 There are many experts who now think the term “time management” is actually passé, as we can’t really 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 separates 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 balance. 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 minutes. 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 “measure” 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 transactions 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 business, 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

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Blogging 101

B y S h e r r y

Plain & Simple

L a s k i n ,

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

A C C

chances are you’ve heard and read about the importance of having 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.

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

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 but with 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 interest 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 understand 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 websites 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….

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

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

January 2011

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 blogging 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 a name 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 blogging “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, sign up 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 surcharges on Princess and Cunard. Have a large familybased 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

Travel Agent Professional

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 addons. 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 accomplishment. 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 guarantee 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: sherrylaskin@gmail.com. I’d love to read it! You can check out my blog at www.cruisemaven.com.

WHERE HISTORY WAS BORN. WHERE MEMORIES ARE MADE.

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