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Some interesting statistics here...
This is pretty exciting and it raises some new questions for me. So I still have not done much as far as SEO. Actually I haven’t done anything yet. But I was curious about my Alexa ranking so I checked it out and learned that I am sort of famous (OK, that may be a slight over exaggeration) in the Land of Oz: Australia, mate!
Take a look:
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Click the image to enlarge it and take a closer look at my stats.
Now my thought is this: Since I am beginning to develop an international following perhaps the business I embark upon should be able to be promoted internationally…? What do you think?
Holy moly! I haven’t checked my blog traffic stats in quite awhile but thought maybe I should take a peek. Was I ever glad I did! I have had 10,543 page views over the past 3 weeks! Crazy when you consider I haven’t even begun getting serious about SEO, site promotion, forum or blog comment posting, etc. etc. etc.
What actually led me to check on my traffic stats was a post I read about a blog that was for sale. This blog was begun back in 2004 and is averaging 10,000 page views a month. The seller mentioned how it has been developed with SEO in mind. So I said to myself, “Self, how many page views is my little new blog receiving?”
And when I checked I was floored. I am not sure what I was expecting but over 10,000 in 21 days was awesome news! What is going to happen when I start tweaking some SEO options (as I am learning more and more about that crazy world) and when I start getting alittle more active in other blogs and forums?
I know some of you might be wondering why I am only looking at the past 21 days when I am on Day 28 of blogging about my adventures in launching an online business as a gift for my wife. The answer is really quite simple. I began this blog on wordpress.com… it wasn’t until 21 days ago that I secured my own domain and set-up my own wordpress blog with my host(which rocks, by the way). So I have traffic stats for these past 3 weeks.
Thanks again to you, my faithful readers! I appreciate all your help, high fives, feedback, thumbs up, insight, knuckle bumps, wisdom, winks, advice and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Thanks for continuing to pass the word along… I hope it all helps when it comes time to wrap this baby up and give it to my wife! Peace.
Ok, my friends… it has been some wild and crazy days. I had some wordpress issues… o joy.
So these days were spent responding to emails to various people who will be sharing some insight on the various travel-related businesses they own. Please stay tuned for the interviews to be finalized.
I have been doing a lot of thinking over these days and I have a question for all you online business owners out there:
If you could change one thing about the process you underwent in launching your present online business venture, what would that be?
Just call me Katie Couric… strike that, maybe you can call me Jay Leno. Actually let’s just stick with JMichael. Whatever you choose to call me, I am excited to announce that I have decided to take this business research to the next level.
I have made some fantastic contacts over the past few weeks and I have invited some people to share in an interview for my blog. I have asked several people who represent a variety of travel-related online businesses to share their insights and details about the companies they represent. Everyone will be asked the same questions and we should receive a good overview of several companies.
This is great stuff! So far I have heard from the following people who will be sharing in the coming days:
Jessica Byers and Sherry Pevey - Traverus
Jennifer Glackin and Randy Kuipers - YTB
Diane Haskins - WorldVentures
Still waiting to hear back on - Global Resorts Network
Still waiting to hear back on - Travelencia
Still waiting to hear back on - Coastal Travel
Still waiting to hear back on - MorVacations
I should hear back from my other contacts soon and will keep you all updated as we progress. Stay tuned for our first interview!
So is this how you get traffic to your website? Just follow a ton of people and hope they follow you and check out your website?
Let me start by saying my intent was not to drive traffic to my blog. For those who have read through this entire blog and for my faithful followers who have subscribed, you already realize that I am in major research mode. I am sincerely trying to share my experiences in launching a new online business as a gift for my wife. And as I am bumbling through this whole process I am on the lookout for any advice, suggestions or other tidbits of wisdom others are willing to offer.
My hope is this: as you follow my attempt at launching a successful online business you have the opportunity to learn from others as I learn from others. Together we all learn more and hopefully pick up some ideas or avoid making the same mistakes. I will also have this daily journal to share with my wife when I present to her the profitable online business I have developed. Pretty cool when I think about how that day will go… but that leads me to daydreaming… let’s get back to that comment someone shared.
Do I follow a ton of people on Twitter in the hopes that they will follow me and check out my site?
Short answer is no, I do not. I did not know anything about Twitter until just a few weeks ago. When I first approached Twitter and began to dig around a bit I realized there were a lot of people tweetin’ that might potentially be able to help me sift through the gabzillions of online business opportunities out there in cyberia.
The Twitter universe seemed to be very community oriented… it seemed to be a perfect platform to find others, especially work from home mothers, who are running a successful online business. I began to think that just perhaps some of these people would be willing to hear me out, to understand my story and my desire to build this business for my wife. And maybe, just maybe, they would be open to helping a guy like me out.
So I searched Twitter for WAHMs and began following them to see what I could learn from them. There were a lot out there and, before I knew it, I was following my maximum of 2000. Suddenly I started to realize that many of them were following me as well. And what was even cooler is that many were interested in what I was trying to do for my wife. Many began offering great advice. Others helped me with graphics and even wrote about my story on their own blogs. It was absolutely incredible. So I have continued to follow people on Twitter from whom I might be able to learn and I hope I am able to return the favor as I become a successful internet business owner.
The traffic just became a bonus! I have been greatly encouraged as followers have commented on how they enjoy this blog and I guess they have recommended it to others. So that’s it. I will continue to use Twitter as i have come across some fantatsic people… not to mention it canbe quite addicting!
Hey crew… I have had to work extra hard recently on going incognito (not to be confused with going commando) as my beautiful wife has mentioned that I have been on the computer a lot more recently than usual.
We had an awesome conversation (totally unrelated to anything about launching an online business… I am so slick) about how life might be different if she wasn’t working outside the home four days each week. As we chatted I found myself even more energized and motivated to get this business GOING!
I wanted to ask you all a question that has been nagging me today: How long did it take for you to get your online business profitable? And the follow up question: How much are you earning each month?
I realize that might seem a little too personal… no worries. If you do not want to share, we can still be friends. :) But… if you would be willing to let me in on how you are doing with your business it might help satisfy my curiosity
I remember reading on a woman’s blog (wish I could remember where!) over the past few weeks about her success. If I remember correctly her online business focused on launching niche retail websites….? Anyway, she began by setting up two or three such sites and was making money within 30 days. She posted how much she was making and it was a couple hundred bucks. She launched one or two more niche sites over the next few months. I seem to recall that she had 5 niche sites after 120 days and was bringing in over $800 per month off those sites. I believe her plan was to continue launching new niche sites and watch her income increase. Sounds like a great plan! (By the way, if this example seems really familiar to you, like it could be you, please let me know so I can give you credit! Thanx!)
So how are your businesses doing? I am putting the pressure on myself to really get this cranked out and profitable so my wife can come home. Any thoughts? Maybe you could share your plan and projections as a little inspiration for your good buddy, JMichael?
Business research always seems to go better on a full stomach
Hold on, I’ve got to pull my pizza out of the oven…
Sorry about that but one cannot have a burned pizza to offer up to a tribe of 6 hungry kiddos, can one…
But enough of the pizza talk, on with what we are here for: my discoveries about the TraVerus business. Read on and let me know what you think. If you didn’t catch yesterday’s post please check it out as I am comparing Travelencia (which i reviewed yesterday) to TraVerus.
combination direct selling & network marketing company
you can become a Referring Travel Consultant or a Certified Travel Agent
provides training to become a Certified Travel Agent
agents with $5000 in commissions qualify to receive an IATAN card
offers travel booking through your own online portal
Hotels
Airline tickets
Vacation Packages
Condo Resorts Worldwide
Cruises
Car Rentals
Theme Park, Museums, Zoos, Family Fun Centers
Personal travel assistance
Honeymoons
profits are made when people book travel through your online portal and when you enlist people to start their own TraVerus travel business and encourage them to do the same
plans numerous ‘members-only’ (I guess i should bust out my jacket from the 80s) vacation packages throughout the year at discount prices for all members, (these allow you to include up to 6 family members at the same price. I need to look into this considering I have 7 family members I would like to include, the mrs. and my 6 kiddos!)
Check out this overview video:
Here is information from their website about their compensation plan:
Travel Commissions
Referral Travel Consultants earn:
65% of the commission rate for travel booked direct through their personalized booking engine.
20% of the commission rate on travel that they refer to TraVerus to be booked.
Certified Travel Agents earn:
75% of the commission rate for all travel booked on their own personalized booking engine.
75% of the commission rate when booked direct with the suppliers. REQUIREMENT: complete the CTA Travel Training.
20% of the commission rate on travel that they refer to TraVerus to be booked.
Its like having your own virtual travel agency when you earn a percentage of the travel commissions they earn! *No travel commission paid on bookings that contain only airfare.
Personal Sales
As a Referring Travel Consultant or a Certified Travel Agent, you may now earn Personal Sales Commissions on sales that YOU generate.
On each “Referring Travel Consultant Package”:
RTCs earn – $50.00
CTAs earn – $50.00
Executives earn – $50.00
On each “Certified Travel Agent Package”:
RTCs earn – $70.00
CTAs earn – $80.00
Executives earn – $100.00
The diagram below shows an example of Personal Sales Commissions.
If you are an RTC and Shawn purchases the Certified Travel Agent Package you get $70.00
If you are a CTA and Shawn purchases the Certified Travel Agent Package you get $80.00
If you are an Executive and Shawn purchases the Certified Travel Agent Package you get $100.00
There is No Limit on the number of Agent Packages that qualify for this Personal Sales Commission.
Personal Sales Enroller Bonus – You earn 50% of all Personal sales commissions earned by your personally enrolled Agents.
When you become an RTC or CTA, you may earn Personal Sales Commissions and other Bonus Commissions from the Traverus Travel Agent Commission Program, which is explained in the next few sections!
Coded Bonus
Qualified Agents are paid “Coded Bonus” commissions on all personally generated sales after your first 2 sales – with no limits. So, beginning with your third personal sale, you will be eligible to earn both the “Personal Sales” commissions AND “Coded Bonus” commissions.
On each “Referring Travel Consultant Package”:
RTCs earn – $20.00
CTAs earn – $20.00
Executives earn – $20.00
On each “Certified Travel Agent Package”:
RTCs earn – $30.00
CTAs earn – $40.00
Executives earn – $50.00
The diagram below shows an example of Coded Bonus Commissions:
In this diagram, all these people purchased “Certified Travel Agent” Packages and you are a CTA.
Not only will you be “coded” to these sales, but you will be “coded” to their first 2 sales and the first 2 sales of their first 2 and so on.
In this diagram, all levels shown purchased “Certified Travel Agent” Packages.
Matching Coded Bonus
If you are a Qualified Traverus Referring Travel Consultant Agent or Certified Travel Agent and you personally sponsor at least one Qualified CTA or RTC – you are eligible to receive “Matching Coded Bonus” commissions on any “Coded Bonus” commissions “your” Agents earn. This is really exciting, because if they earn “Coded Bonus” commissions, you are eligible to earn a 150% or 100% match, as described below:
First Two Personally Sponsored Agents (150%):
On your first two personally sponsored RTCs or CTAs, you are eligible to receive 150% “Matching Coded Bonus” on the commissions they earn from “Coded Bonuses”. If you are a RTC, CTA or Executive For every $20 Coded Bonus that your first two personally sponsored Agents earn, you will earn $30. If you are a RTC, CTA or Executive for every $40 Coded Bonus that your first two personally sponsored Agents earn, you will earn $60.
The diagram below shows an example of Matching Coded Bonus Commissions:
In this diagram, all levels shown purchased “Certified Travel Agent” Packages.
From Third Personally Sponsored Agent On (100%):
In addition, starting from your third personally sponsored Agent, you will be eligible to receive a 100% “Matching Coded Bonus” on the commissions they earn from the “Coded Bonus”. So, for every $40 Coded Bonus they earn, you earn $40 also. For every $20 Coded Bonus they earn, you earn $20 also.
The diagram below shows an example of Matching Coded Bonus Commissions:
In this diagram, all levels shown purchased “Certified Travel Agent” Packages.
OK… the compensation plan continues from here but gets a bit crazy with Executive bonuses, etc…
So, how much does it cost to join TraVerus? $119.95 start-up fee as a Referral Travel Consultant (RTC) -or- $399.90 start-up fee as a Certified Travel Agent (CTA). The start-up fees include your first month of website fees (see next item).
What are the ongoing fees? $59.95/month (which covers your online travel booking website that uses the Revelex pricing system… from what I understand, this Revelex system is better than what many other online travel agents have access to.)
Any thoughts? Shoot me an email or post a comment, please. I need your advice on this… tough decision!
My research on Travelencia… what are your thoughts?
As promised in my post yesterday, here is what i have learned about the Travelencia business. Any feedback would be most appreciated. I know this may seem like a lot of information but there is a lot of information out there! So, without further ado, I present to you my Travelencia findings…
I have to admit that I am still moving in the direction of a travel-related business. It just seems to ‘fit’ best with my wife’s personality and interests. But I have to say this entire endeavor has been much more challenging than I ever imagined.
The challenges have really been different than what I first imagined. That is to say, I thought the greatest challenge would be finding an online business I could launch and develop and ‘hand over’ to my lovely wife. The problem has not been finding a business as much as it has been finding too many businesses! I never realized how many opportunities were really available for building an online business.
So I am continuing to narrow it down… and just when I think I’ve got it somewhat figured out, wham-o!, another interesting opportunity or personal email comes my way. Then I go through my WHAT list all over again.
Now this process isn’t too terribly awful… not at all, really. I am enjoying it and learning a lot. I just guess that by day 18 I thought I would have already made my business decision and begun building it! But here I am… still kicking some tires. I know this is an important decision, deciding what business I will actually launch… but the timer is a-tickin’… I want to begin promoting and (hopefully) profiting so I can give this to my wife and allow her to resign from her current job.
I am presently comparing two Travel companies: Travelencia and Traverus. Here is what I have learned thus far. I am really focusing on these two and would love any thoughts you might have, especially if you are or have been involved with either of these companies. Tomorrow I will share what I have found regarding Travelencia. I will follow that up with what I have discovered about TraVerus.
Please share your thoughts about these two companies. Thanks in advance!
Alrighty… I am learning more about driving traffic by the day. But the question I have is this: are there any quality traffic building programs out there? Some people have said they work, others say they are a waste of time.
Does anyone use traffic building programs as a regular part of their marketing efforts?
If so, what do you use and how effective have they been for you?
Many of these programs allow you to generate ‘credits’ to promote your site or ads for your site on their network. I was curious as to whether or not these types of things made sense or if they were more along the lines of time-wasters.
Also, any other pointers you can provide for generating some traffic would be helpful… really, what is working for you?
This discussion really is important and I have received some interesting feedback. I am trying to learn about the various methods people go about to generate traffic. Here is a list of what people have suggested thus far:
Content: I have had a few comments and emails focusing on developing good content for your business website. The thought is that good content will not only build your credibility and engage visitors at your site, but it can also lead to those visitors sharing your website with friends.
Search Engine Optimization: Ew boy. I don’t know about you but this seems to be a mysterious arena all to itself. I have done a bit of research and it seems like there are a variety of opinions on how to best optimize your site for the search engines. I have noticed companies that charge from a little to a whole-lotta cashola to get your site ranked. Anyone legitimately know the ins and outs of SEO? Are there some basic (free and fairly simple?) things one could do to help with SEO?
Forums: Many people have suggested participating in forums and I have. However I wasn’t participating in the forums to drive traffic to my blog… I was truly trying to find a few kind souls that would help a wandering wannabe online business owner out! I really cannot figure out how people can invest so much time into the forums. Maybe if I found one or two that really interested me and were an online community in which I could feel that I belonged, then it might work? Once I make the final decision on what business I will pursue I think I will try to find one or two good online communities with forums that make sense. How does that sound to you? Anyone have success in the forums? How do you practically go about that?
Submitting Articles: This seems to make a lot of sense if your articles get ‘picked up’ by other blogs or sites. I have heard a lot about writing articles and getting them out there. Obviously you use a closing bio of some sort which directs readers back to your website. Again, this one seems like a winner. But where do you submit those articles? Are there some ‘best practices’ in terms of length, style, etc?
Digg, Delicious, Stumbleupon: Wow… this is an area I could use some real help on as well. I have read/heard/seen that these sites can really help drive traffic but I don’t fully understand how…? I have used delicious for my personal bookmarking for quite some time. How can I use these sites to generate traffic to my site? Anyone doing this successfully?
Squidoo and Hubpages: Another area where your fearless blogger is clueless… :) I have run across many a pitch for building ‘lenses’ and ‘hubs’ to generate additional traffic. I would love to hear from someone who has done this successfully.
Any other thoughts? Please comment below or zip me an email… I love to hear from you guys!
