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But she found only directories with irrelevant content.
No original content sites.
Monday morning, after I clarified by telephone calls, that all the locations she found had no the wanted and searched attributes, I finished wasting my time with search engines.
I decided to drive down the coast street until I find the right place.
And so I did. In the area, I drove down from the main street, found the first tourist information cneter, asked, and I got the right spam free search result. 10 further km, and we spend there 2 weeks on the beach.
When somebody like I tells, just drvie with Your car and ask at a tourist information beside the road, it's much better than search engines, this should be an alarm signal.
Yes, too much spam in the travel tourism and hotel industries, but there are nice online properties out there if you know how to find them.
As for getting there first, I'm not sure, too much risk in doing that.
I want to spend the weekend away at a small town nearby, I'm unlikely to go surfing - I'd use more local resources, newspaper, etc.
If I wanted to go travelling overseas for the next three months, some where far away from home, then sure I'd crank up the processor and hit the search button.
JB
I could have rung up the local info centres, but they are only open 9 to 5. I surfed the net to check out accommadation, got email addresses or submitted a query, saw photos of places to stay. All was sorted within an hour or two via the net.
Not saying one way is better than the other, but each experience will vary depending upon location, circumstance etc
JB
It doesn't help to worry about what other publishers are doing, the important thing is that your visitors are finding value on your site and letting you know through links and correspondence. It seems to me that the Adsense world has been stabalizing, I don't think I've written to support with this or that emergency since Spring.
Those were 2 nice clicks! (Opening the email from her and from Pay Pal, that is) :) :)
OK, 4 clicks. I have to double click to open an email. :) :) :) :)
[edited by: RonS at 2:31 pm (utc) on Sep. 12, 2006]
When somebody like I tells, just drvie with Your car and ask at a tourist information beside the road, it's much better than search engines, this should be an alarm signal.
I'll echo what johnblack said, and I'll add that statistics and forecasts from the Travel Industry Association of America, PhoCusWright, the European Travel Commission, JupiterResearch, and other sources make it clear that the online travel industry (including travel media) continues to grow at the expense of offline businesses.
BTW, what is this thread doing on the AdSense forum? It sounds like a topic for:
[webmasterworld.com...]
I decided to drive down the coast street until I find the right place. And so I did. In the area, I drove down from the main street, found the first tourist information cneter, asked, and I got the right spam free search result. 10 further km, and we spend there 2 weeks on the beach.
Yeah, planning a trip on the Internet can be tedious, and you are very lucky that you simply can drive down the coast street to find a nice place.
BUT:
1- If you plan a trip to a rural area in Elbonia, you won't have the option to just drive down the coast street. Several Internet services actually help you getting an impression of the right place for your trip.
2- Even if there is some spam out there, I would not want to miss the Internet for trip planning. In fact, I don't really remember how it was in the old days? Would you want to go again to the travel agent and rely on their (sometimes very questionable) advice? Buy overpriced flights and accomodation?
And yes, I agree, this has nothing to do with Adsense. :-)
In fact, I don't really remember how it was in the old days?
I do, all too well. I'd write to a national tourist office and request printed literature, which would include addresses of local tourist offices. Then I'd write to one or more of those local tourist offices for more printed literature (enclosing International Reply Coupons to cover postage). After that, I'd write to a hotel or vacation-apartment landlord to make a reservation, and if an advance deposit was required, I'd usually need to buy a bank draft in foreign currency. And if I wanted to research a train journey in Europe, I'd need a copy of Cook's European Timetable, which was available by mail order or at large public libraries.
By the late 1980s, it was possible to use fax and credit cards for bookings abroad. (I still remember making my first hotel reservation by fax with the Seamen's Home in Torshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands, and being amazed when a faxd confirmation arrived within an hour or two.)
The Web has made travel planning--and travel reservations--far more convenient. As a bonus, it's generating travel-related AdSense and affiliate income for mom-and/or-pop sites like mine. So there you are--an AdSense tie-in for this thread!
The Web has made travel planning--and travel reservations--far more convenient.
The web has also made it possible for small hotels to continue to exist independently of large tour operators. Now they can make their existence known cheaply, can take reservations and payments easily. They do not have to have their prices and operations dictated by a handful (in Europe) of large tour operators.
And not a few of these small operators use AdWords and AdSense...so I am happy about that.
OK, that last was to keep a relevance to this forum ;-)
[edited by: Jean at 9:02 pm (utc) on Sep. 12, 2006]
...made it possible for small hotels to continue to exist independently
I will second that remark.
We are a small business in the tourism business that uses both AdWords & free serps to bring clients to us. Without the Internet we would be non existent.
Syzygy
Also if you wing it and go off driving, be warned the hotel can charge you the "rack rate" which is the shaft rate when someone walks in off the street. Using the net I can get highest stars, best rate with real customer reviews. Net every time for me :)
