How to start a new Hotel Affilate based site

*** Help Please ***

[kneokortex]

Hi,
I just saw all the posting and all the replies..
U guys are really gonig gr8 guns.. As far as I am concerned I am very new to this side of the web.
Ok, Now I want to make a website and associate it with some good($$$) hotel affilates.. But don;t really know where to start off from...
1. Which affiliate prgm is best? or is it worth the effort.
2. WHich prgm can give me more $$$
3. How about all the SEO related tips and techs.
4. Any useful resources.. Hmmm?

Honestly I don't know anything about it...
Pls help me.. Any advice would be appreciated a lot..
I just wanna make $$$.... and offer the best that I can..
Pls.. I need help on this... :-)

[pendanticist]

Welcome to Webmaster World kneokortex.

Might I suggest that you read the TOS of Webmaster World before posting the same topic in multiple forums?

You'll do much better with just a little more patience.

:)

Pendanticist.

[gopi]

Hotel affiliate programs?...you will be killed by the competition buddy ... :) its one of the most crowded niches besides casinos, porn , credit cards and online pharmacies

Just research a bit and select a niche which is not that competititve...

And pls respect the TOS...posting multiple times will not make the people to help you out :)

[pendanticist]

I'm going to offer some pretty pointed advice here that I hope you'll take in stride. Not a flame, just some food-for-thought. :)

All right, here we go...

I just saw all the posting and all the replies..
U guys are really gonig gr8 guns.. As far as I am concerned I am very new to this side of the web.

These forums are not chat rooms, so you might want to consider brushing up on proper writing skills such as paragraphs, sentences and spelling so folks will understand exactly what you want, or need. It's all a part of professionalism and very, very important if you truly wish to succeed...no matter what you want to accomplish in life.

Think of it this way: what we see is who we think you are.

We all started out knowing nothing at all. You are going to have to learn how to walk before you run and in time you'll learn everything you need to know...and then some [webmasterworld.com].

This is perhaps the most multi-national, multi-cultural forum on the planet. As such, responses may not be as forthcoming as you might like. The reason is simple; posters are from around the World and odds are very, very few of them are in the same time zone as you are.

Those Webmasters who do post here represent a very wide variety of websites and the amount of knowledge in here is staggering.

Ok, Now I want to make a website and associate it with some good($$$) hotel affilates..But don;t really know where to start off from...
1. Which affiliate prgm is best? or is it worth the effort.
2. WHich prgm can give me more $$$

I cannot speak to affiliates, as I know nothing about them.

Here are some resources to read and understand:

http*//archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimerAll.html NCSA -- A Beginner's Guide to HTML

"National Center for Supercomputing Applications. This is a primer for producing documents in HTML, the hypertext markup language used on the World Wide Web. This guide is intended to be an introduction to using HTML and creating files for the Web. Links are provided to additional information. You should also check your local bookstore; there are many volumes about the Web and HTML that could be useful."

http*//wdvl.com/Index.html WDVL: Keyword Search and Index

"WDVL is an free encyclopedia of java, HTML, javascript, cgi, dhtml, XML, perl, web design and domain name tutorials and resources."

http*//www.webpagesthatsuck.com/ Web Pages That Suck - learn usability and good Web design by looking at bad design

http*//www.ashaland.com/webpub/index.html Web Publishing Online Resource Home

"This site is a collection of links to many of the excellent resources already available on the Web. It is made possible by the hundreds of people who have taken the time to create these resources. They have explained concepts, written programs, created indices, and more, in order to make the craft of Web publishing easier to learn and understand."

Bookmark them and read, read, read.

(Note: All annotations are those of the websites or links I've provided.)

3. How about all the SEO related tips and techs.
4. Any useful resources.. Hmmm?

First, you need to have a website design, a host server and your website listed with the likes of DMOZ - The Open Directory Project [dmoz.org].

Glossary Lookup [searchengineworld.com] is essential for understanding terminologies used in the world of Webmastery.

For more information/resources on Search Engine Optimization you'll need to read and understand as much about it as you can. Many posters in here will be glad to help you, but you need to do the legwork.

I just wanna make $$$.... and offer the best that I can.. Pls.. I need help on this... :-)

Just so you realize that you may not make any money for quite some time. A good percentage of for-profit website owners probably didn't make any money for a long, long time. (<chuckle> So far, about the only thing you didn't ask for was Your 1st check [webmasterworld.com].)

As time goes on, you might want some Help Getting Listed on Yahoo [webmasterworld.com]...

...or Developing spreadsheet to track SEO results [webmasterworld.com]

...or even learning how the importance of the Number of Pages Indexed [webmasterworld.com]

At the risk of sounding repetitive....Read, read, read and read some more. When you have a question that you've not been able to find an answer to (after reasonable searching [searchengineworld.com]), ask.

Good Luck! :)

<edit>de-linked by Pendanticist where appropriate</edit>

Pendanticist.

[edited by: pendanticist at 12:58 am (utc) on Jan. 23, 2003]

[rcjordan]

I use TravelNow, been with them a long, long time and they treat me well. But I'm sure plenty here use Lodging.com or OneTravel.com. In general, I don't think you'll find any significant negative issues with any of those three. I do believe TNow requires exclusivity --though that may have changed, I do know of a few major booking sites that have them and another booking engine listed side-by-side. That is probably by direct negotiation.

Assuming that you're going to concentrate on a specific town or region, I'd advise reviewing the inventory they each offer, as there are noticeable holes in some towns with some networks.

As for the competition in the travel sector, dog-eat-dog would be putting it mildly. Unless you're just looking for occassional pizza money, you're going to need to rank in the top 10 on "hotels in townname" or just "townname."

[DrCool]

I would put a vote in for Lodging.com. In my area they have a very good selection of hotels. They also pay quickly and have a very good affiliate manager.

I haven't used any of the other companies but if RC recommends them they will be good.

It is a fairly competitive market if you want to make a living. For someone just starting out with a website I wouldn't really recommend the hotel industry. It can get very discouraging sometimes. I have been lucky enough to find a niche that I have done well in but I can't see myself doing much more with hotels in the future because of the competition. There are people out there willing to work a lot harder than I am. There is easier money to be made out there.

[kneokortex]

Thanks a ton to everyone,

Yes, pendanticist as you said, I will read, read and read. Thanks for the great advice and sorry for the mistakes. I will surely learn to walk before I can even think of running.;)

Gopi, DrCool and RC - THANKS A TON.

Well then what next, if not hotel industry, then WHAT?
:)

[pendanticist]

:)

[rcjordan]

Suggest you start w/ "Type A vs Type B [alltheweb.com]"

[pendanticist]

Touché rcjordan :)

[kneokortex]

Hi Gopi,

ALthough I am doing all the work to find out the best affiliate programs, it would be much more easier and faster for me if you could give me some direct hints about other affiliate programs. I hope I am not bothering you. Or am I?

Well, one more thing, it really feels great to see so many of you helping each other. I never expected this kind of response. THANKS A TON AGAIN AND AGAIN
And Yes RC, I am surely going through Type A vs Type B. THANKS A TON AGAIN
:)

[gopi]

kneokortex , since you are a newbie you cannot get into super competitive fields like gambling or phentermine.

My suggestion will be just become a member of CJ or other netowrks and browse thro the merchants...Find one which interests you and also not that competitive...

Nobody can tell which industry suits you :)

[theposter]

You might also want to try HotelQuest.com These chaps are very strong in the smaller cities. While other Hotel Consolidators have chosen to take over the metros in the US, HotelQuest.com has garnered itself a great range of hotels in the smaller cities as well. their 10% commission per sale is not bad either ;)

A point to note here is that, lodging.com, one travel etc have hotels everywhere, but most of these are not consolidated rates. These are the rack rates as specified by the hotels via GDS systems like Pegasus. Rack rate >> Consolidated Rates.

In such a scenario, opting for the HQ affiliate program works because you can consistently show better deals for your site visitors.

As far as rcjordon pointed out, that its difficult to make money unless you have top rankings for major traffic kwds, well i beg to differ. The bigger the market, the more the niches. Believe me, just by targetting niches, you can make close to $5,000 in commissions per month.

I know I sound like a big fan of HotelQuest.com, well thats becuase their program works very well for me. If credibility is what you want, well these chaps offer their program via CJ too.

Just my 2 cents.

[pendanticist]

kneokortex,

Have you written any HTML yet?

Pendanticist.

[kneokortex]

Yes, I am in IT Industry (S/W Dev.) since last 6 years and as far as HTML goes I have more than 24 sites online - designed, developed and optimized. Now I want to earn something for myself;)

[MrSpeed]

Hello,
I think I'm going to give the Hotel Affiliate a try.
Going to try a type A site.
I need some guidance evaluating hotel niches and whether the ROI is there.

I want I went to Overture and researched some keyword terms.
'mylocalcity hotels' is currently at $0.35 with about 2500 searches/month. I noticed that "disney hotel" is currently at $2.79 with about 18,000 searches.

What is the typical conversion ratio with Hotels? I would think it is pretty good. Rates in the area are about $100.00 At 6% commision I would need to convert 1/17 to break even. Is this possible to do?

Rich

[eljefe3]

I've been doing hotel bookings for about 3 years and the ratio is usually 1 booking in 50 click-throughs to where the cookie is set, up to 1 in 100. Maybe your locale is different, but i can remember a thread a while back where most people were converting around 1 - 1.5%.

[rcjordan]

>around 1 - 1.5%

Yes, that sounds about right. But one thing to take into consideration, particularly if you're doing PPC, is that there can be a significant percentage of cancellations. Those clicks cost you and "converted" but die down the line somewhere. The lag between the initial booking and the commission payout doesn't help when trying to calculate the ROI of a campaign either.

[MrSpeed]

Hmmm. How are people making money with PPC then? Something has to allow them to bid so high. Either a higher conversion ratio or a higher payout.

Rich

[cagey1]

Something has to allow them to bid so high.

Ignorance? Sweetheart deals? Failure to read these forums?

The 1% to 1.5% conversion rate is about right (before cancellations). Average commission per booking is $8 to $12 dollars (higher for some niche markets, lower for others).

As was alluded to before, you do have to watch the lag time between booking and commission payment. Some programs charge a traveler's credit card at the time of booking, so they might pay within 60 days of booking.

Other programs only use the credit card to guarantee the reservation, and the traveler doesn't pay until they checkout. The hotel then pays the booking service within 60 days (sometimes longer), then the booking service pays you within 60 days or so. This means for a booking made today (beginning of March) for a room in June, you might not see the booking commission until October (assuming the reservation is not cancelled and the hotel pays the booking service).

To make things even more complicated, some booking services use both payment methods.

[rcjordan]

>Sweetheart deals?

Add to that a massive, massive number of bids that were grandfathered in at .01 ppc and are now/soon .05.

[DrCool]

significant percentage of cancellations

I usually see around 10-15% of the bookings cancel.

Average commission per booking is $8 to $12 dollars (higher for some niche markets, lower for others)

Very true. If you can find the right market the commissions can average well over twice that amount.

Also if you can offer more than just hotel bookings you can pay more per visitor. A lot of the high bidders on hotel related keywords seem to be the big boys (Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz) who sell much more than hotels. A lot of the other big bidders I have seen aren't traditional "affiliate". They might just deal with one specific resort or have a special deal with the hotels that pay them more than the standard affiliate commission.

[MrSpeed]

Very true. The big boys are placing a price tag on name recognition and branding, hoping to get repeat business.

I think I'll still pursue some hotel affilaite but focus more on the search engine aspect rather than PPC. I also need to investigate some niches I have in mind.

[mayor]

Working the hotel fast lane is fine to keep up on how to be competitive (or, should I say, highly competitive) but it's my guess most people aren't making much money at it because of the intense competition. But work it anyway, then apply some of the techniques you learn there to less competitive niche industries, of which there are many, and then you'll make some money.

[Catalyst]

If you decide to go with hotels, then don't forget to add some other travel related affiliate programs to support your content and efforts. Think about other things vacationers need and add those programs to. Use your imagination. For instance search CJ & the other networks for luggage companies and vacation related sites. I think there's a quite a few.

Then write some snappy text links like:

Got Luggage? All the major brands - up to 60% off! Visit XYZ company now

Ready for your trip? WAIT! Where’s your new suitcase? Save up to xx% now!

Travel 1st Class with XYZ suitcase company

Then you don't need to just rely on income from the competitive hotel market, but if you can build a good site and get some good traffic you can leverage some synergistic yet more niche markets to increase your income.

Best of luck, Linda