Helping small tour operators and niche agents with travel ecommerce

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Started this discussion. Last reply by Alex Bainbridge Jul 11.

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Tom Cree started a discussion called US White label sites Jul 1

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At 4:11pm on April 13th, 2008, Nicola Grimshaw said…: Hi Tom,

Yes, sadly its all gone very quiet!

Anyway in answer to your question, I have looked at Keyword Elite ages ago and decided not to buy, I can't remember exactly why but I guess I thought it was a reasonable investment for something you can do for yourself. I think it is probably more suitable for people who run lots of affiliate site. I think most of the info on the internet about it is from affiliates of Keyword Elite. Also I'm not keen on programmes that don't have free trials. MIght be worth asking within the wider forum if anyone has actually used it, then they can give you an honest view.

A piece of software you might be interested in is web ceo (www.webceo.com) - I just use the free version which is quite useful.

Kind regards

Nicola

At 4:23pm on April 5th, 2008, Nicola Grimshaw said…: Hi Tom,

You were up early on a Saturday morning!

Markup is a difficult one in order to be both competitive and it still be worth your while in terms of marketing spend etc. and, of course, it all depends how competitive the net rates are. I personally would start by comparing the prices to those available on an aggregate site like moneysupermarket or kayak and find out where their strengths and weaknesses are. You might find the prices are excellent for one airline and expensive for another; in general the markup for flights will be quite a bit lower than for accommodation. As a guide if it is a true (only available to travel trade) white label up to 10% for flights up to 15% for accommodation - although I would anticipate they might be nearer half that to be competitive in all areas. If it's more of an affiliate link (which I'm guessing it might be) up to 7% but realistically most likely 2-3% would be my guess.

Sorry it's not a very straightforward answer, but hope it helps.

Kind regards

Nicola

At 2:01pm on April 2nd, 2008, Charlotte said…: Hi Tom,

Thanks soooo much for that - I can't tell you how helpful it is to get such a jargon-free reply!

Thanks also for your kind words re our web site - it is still in its infancy, but we won't ever use an online booking system - our bookings are too complex and often quite complicated - it would be unfair on our customers!

It sounds like you have had a really exciting life - Botswana is one of my favourite countries in Africa; the variety and diversity never fails to amaze me!

If you have any more tips or any constructive criticisms of the site, do let me know - it all helps! I'll likewise do the same :-)

Thanks again - and best of luck!

Charlotte

At 12:18pm on April 2nd, 2008, Nicola Grimshaw said…: Hi Tom,

If you have got this, you've found your comments wall! To find someone else's click on their picture.

Kind regards

Nicola