tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74635826304449733602012-02-16T03:07:52.394-05:00a guide for cruise webmastersMike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.comBlogger431100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-24403278574578379212011-09-20T20:28:00.001-04:002011-09-20T20:31:10.798-04:00

Not only is Facebook launching their own social music services in an upcoming release, Facebook has now said they will be launching several new buttons shortly. These buttons will be formally announced at their F8 developers conference. New buttons include Read, Listened, Watched and Want. This is an interesting development, just think about what Facebook can do with this data - especially if

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-77033405820674839702011-05-18T18:24:00.000-04:002011-05-18T18:24:37.895-04:00

Here's an interesting new way to give your business a boost in Local Search. Google Boost allows you to set up affordable local search campaigns online.  Google Boost gives your listing premium position and more visibility.  To learn more click here.  

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-68722583523370787542011-02-10T17:36:00.000-05:002011-02-10T17:36:40.004-05:00

This is a really interesting presentation on internet trends and where marketing will be in 2011 and beyond.  Top 10 Mobile Internet Trends (Feb 2011) View more presentations from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-83619669319162147352010-05-08T14:06:00.003-04:002010-05-08T14:09:37.518-04:00

This week’s focus is on Twitter. Twitter is a pretty compelling way to deliver travel offers or cruise news stories. But the way to really get the word and grow your business via Twitter  is to get the word out beyond those who are already follow your posts by adding tags containing hash marked keywords. Using the hash mark symbol (called ad pound symbol by some), you can add tags to your post to

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-45292609321189092392010-04-28T18:53:00.000-04:002010-04-28T18:53:18.121-04:00

This is a must read for anyone who's looking to build the number of people who are fans of their Fan Page.   Although Facebook has now changed the "Become A Fan" button to the "Like" button, I think the same strategy applies.  Check out this article : http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/21-creative-ways-to-increase-your-facebook-fanbase/

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-57026590443171172242010-03-04T08:30:00.000-05:002010-03-04T08:31:36.737-05:00

A Search Engine Watch article talks about some current social media research: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/100303-014140 The article states that a recent study by Neilson shows that the biggest users of social media on the go are Women age 35-54. Coincidentally this is the same age group that is the primary demographic target of those selling to first time cruisers. This means that

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-83171199227313902922010-02-25T11:46:00.000-05:002010-02-25T11:46:40.288-05:00

If your website were a store, would it be located on a dead end street or in a major mall?  The way you promote your site has everything to do with how many people visit your site each month.  This week's topic is building traffic to your individual website.  Each month we post traffic reports to the BC telling you how many unique visitors have come to your site and how many pages they have

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-81483906644741343192010-02-18T14:06:00.002-05:002010-02-18T14:07:19.444-05:00

A quick search for the term travel blog on Google yields 185 million result pages.  That’s a sea of blogs.  The question is how do you get your blog to stand out? Well there are few tricks that can separate you from the others… and this week we’ll talk about a few very important steps to take in promoting your blog. Step one….search for your blog by typing your blog’s address into the google

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-4386977620812387592010-02-11T10:17:00.002-05:002010-02-11T10:24:46.070-05:00

If you've ever wanted to actually download a video from You Tube, and couldn't find an easy way to do it, here's somewhat of handy site for you....www.kickyoutube.com Just find the video you want to download on YouTube, then change the URL by adding the word Kick before you tube, and you'll get a new site with the same video.  The one key differences is a tool bar at the top of the screen that

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-83146017343765719092010-02-11T09:52:00.000-05:002010-02-11T09:52:20.357-05:00

Google Buzz is a new feature that will allow you to share photos, videos, web links, status updates and conversations with friends similar to what Facebook via the status update box today.   This would be done from within the Gmail interface and should have little to no effect on performance of Gmail.   Buzz is also coming to Google Android (Google's phone operating system) as well as to the

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-66502969921274836922010-02-09T15:54:00.000-05:002010-02-09T15:54:30.211-05:00

Nearly 178 million U.S. Internet users watched 33.2 billion online videos during December 2009, according to the latest data from comScore Vedio Metrix.  The study also stated that 86.5% of the total US Internet audience watched videos online in December 2009.  The average American internet user watched an average of 187 videos in December.  With those type of stats I think we're safe in stating

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-5986504729313399892010-02-08T17:51:00.001-05:002010-02-08T17:56:41.693-05:00

Facebook is making changes to it's navigation again.....and changes to the way that you upload photos (a plugin is now required).  Experts speculate that this plugin adds a layer of security that automatically checks for viruses and vunerabilities that are present in the current version of Facebook. For more info on the changes, see this article : http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/100208-133907

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-70424012633669463882010-02-02T14:13:00.000-05:002010-02-02T14:13:00.677-05:00

With the rapid growth of Facebook, it's no wonder that hackers and scam artists have found ways to take advantage of the public using Facebook.  To counter this, agents using facebook to grow their business should read up and follow some simple tips offered by Facebook Security : If a link or message seems weird, don't click on it. This is true of all spam—whether a chain letter, an ad, or a

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-61760932331938967312010-01-21T09:00:00.004-05:002010-01-21T09:18:19.815-05:00

Evidently iPhone is feeling the heat.... After Google's recent release of the Droid operating system for mobile phones and it's recent announcement that it was getting into the mobile phone business with it's new Nexus One phone. These moves have Apple investigating a new search relationship with Microsoft in order to use Bing as the default search partner on the iPhone (Apple currently defaults

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-26721668655664618532009-11-18T19:00:00.003-05:002009-11-18T19:07:22.358-05:00

Everyone knows email has been around for a quite a while but is very limiting from a technology standpoint. Here's Google's new take on communicating electronically via a new product called Google Wave. Google Wave is a combination between email, discussion forum, a wiki, social networking and a real-time translation service. It's simply an amazing tool that's capable of helping businesses cross

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-6308901308349704962009-11-12T19:19:00.000-05:002009-11-12T19:23:11.879-05:00

The following article talks about some affordable approaches to link building. Link building is is one of 3 key elements (relevant content, on-site optimization and link building) of search optimization and probably the single most important element of natural search engine optimization. http://searchenginewatch.com/3635630Mike MonahanSent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-67844816265323725002009-11-03T08:26:00.000-05:002009-11-03T08:29:27.636-05:00

I found an interesting article on social networking, and thought it was worth sharing : http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/2009/10/25/8-Idiot-Mistakes-in-Social-Media_962.aspxSent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-26318545458400223762009-10-31T16:54:00.003-04:002009-10-31T16:57:59.900-04:00

Ok conducted a few tests and found that the Share This widget doesn't correctly convey links to Blooger when the links contain a "+" sign in them. Documented the error and reported it to ShareThis. Hopefully it will get fixed shortly. We're looking into ways to eliminate plus symbols in URL's in the interim.

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-65127185074908167192009-08-10T18:20:00.003-04:002009-08-10T18:37:53.339-04:00

There are some great articles out there that can help newer FaceBook users get up to speed and help them understand the business opportunities that are out there on FaceBook. Here's some reccomended reading :Ten Things You Need to Know About Facebook by Thomas Krivak (Note data is from March 08)5 Tips For Getting More from Facebook - from Duct Tape MarketingFacebook 101: 25 Tips and Tricks -

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-66110484241523968012009-07-27T11:25:00.009-04:002009-07-27T12:18:11.204-04:00

If you're adding a link to a posting on Face Book consider the following tips. Don't just post the link as is, encode it first. Face Book frames URL's, and in doing such it breaks many url's in the process. The way to fix this is to Encode your URL first by making sure it doesn't contain non-Ascii characters. Often URL's will contain non-ascii characters, and can be found in browsers, but this

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-85295279481639062222009-05-13T10:44:00.004-04:002009-05-13T11:04:32.724-04:00

Agents often have suppliers asking them to use their "Partner Booking Link" websites. These are websites that sell only that supplier's brand - and look and act like the cruise line's or tour operator's website, but have the agent's contact info. While these programs appear to be appealing, they are truly a disservice. I truly think it is not in the best interest of the agent to EVER affiliate

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-64451002947776903122009-04-01T12:09:00.001-04:002009-04-01T12:12:45.941-04:00

Thought everyone could use a laugh or two..... see the April Fool's Cruise News below. Mike MonahanApril Fool's Day Cruise NewsThe Top 10 Stories That Never Happened...But CouldNCL introduces the newest concept in alternative dining. NCL's newest vessel, the Norwegian Epic will introduce PFAST. PFAST is an alternative restaurant that serves no food and encourages fasting. PFAST Guests will

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-62434667763351303282009-03-04T11:12:00.003-05:002009-03-04T11:17:52.381-05:00

At a time of global expansion for the cruise industry, I thought it would be interesting to reflect on this video. Think of the global possiblities.

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-28668423817076521192009-01-28T21:58:00.002-05:002009-01-28T22:35:40.596-05:00

If you haven't joined facebook yet, you should. Facebook is at the heart of the convergence between the online and offline worlds of millions of people worldwide. I'm amazed how many people are using Facebook now - and it's not just 20 somethings using this technology. I'm 40 and 27% of my high school's graduating class is in now in there (and that number is growing rapidly). I've recently

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-32840517900723527042008-11-01T13:10:00.006-04:002008-11-01T15:35:42.856-04:00

Are you networking online to build your business? If you're not then now is the time to re-evaluate. "Social Networking" is the hottest growing trend on the Internet, and it's addictive. It's easy to do and it's a powerful and non-intrusive way to keep in touch with your business and personal contacts. Various social networking sites differ in their design, but generally share in the following

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-26334527225077162162008-10-24T08:42:00.006-04:002008-10-24T09:31:25.230-04:00

Good news fellow Americans - the Euro and Great British Pound is weakening in comparison to the US Dollar. This means that going ashore on a European cruise has just gotten much more affordable. To be exact, the US dollar has improved 14% versus the Euro, and the Dollar has seen a 12% improvement versus the British Pound in the last 90 days. $1 US is now worth .78 Euros, while just 90 days ago it

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-27726466133031530952008-10-17T08:41:00.008-04:002008-10-20T14:54:56.713-04:00

Google has introduced a great new tool called Google Insights for Search. Using this tool you can find out exactly how popular a given search is as compared with other search terms. Insights assigns an index value to each term searched and graphically depicts the relative number of searches over a period of time. Google Insights for Search also maps out how popular a term is regionally, showing

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-77279356073352913212008-09-10T08:19:00.002-04:002008-09-10T11:45:54.514-04:00

It's everywhere. You can't escape it. Information is flowing freely nearly everywhere go today, thanks in large part to WiFi Laptops and the new generation of Smart Phones. Blackberry, iPhone and other smart phones are about to get a run for their money from Google. The much awaited Google Phone is said to be coming this October (retailed by T-Mobile?). The Google Phone runs on Google's own

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-32637356331430134562008-03-26T23:58:00.004-04:002008-03-27T00:55:34.407-04:00

Although many website leads start online - most are closed offline. Probably the most overlooked element of getting the highest ROI (Return on Investment) from an e-commerce campaign is a cruise specialist's inbound an outbound phone technique.Inbound TechniqueIf you're answering the phone with a simple "Hello", you're missing the boat. When it comes to inbound phone calls - something more like "

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-72335084871556084022008-02-15T09:29:00.003-05:002008-02-15T09:59:08.130-05:00

Another few great promotional resouces to consider: BlogUpper - Free Directory for Travel Blogs http://www.blogupper.com/dir/travel.htmlBlogShowoff - Free Directory http://www.blogshowoff.com/category.aspx?cat=18Technorati - Let This directory know you're alive : http://technorati.com/pingFeedburner - Check them out at : http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/advertisingBuzzfuse - http://

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-53646210000336523172008-02-04T17:33:00.000-05:002008-02-04T17:51:49.652-05:00

Are you pomoting a blog?Is your blog :Are you posting at least weekly? Family-friendly language and content Does your blog have a distinct, intelligent writing style Why not share your content with some of the world's best known publishers?How you ask? Check out Blog Burst. If they like your blog, you can appear on a network of websites that's very impressive. Best of all it's FREE :http://

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-51033159774537033502008-02-04T15:42:00.000-05:002008-02-04T17:21:23.850-05:00

If you own a domain name, your number one job is to be sure you stay the owner of that name. Sound simplistic? Maybe not. Further complicating life is the fact that Domain Renewal notices often end up in your Email Spam folder. Unfortunately, far too many business people don't buy domain names for multiple years, and domain squatters are frequently circling like hungry piranas, grabbing these

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-74529640781978763442007-12-13T17:10:00.000-05:002007-12-13T17:19:22.186-05:00

Ok, you've probably heard this before, but in the travel business Geography is Key. Your ability to sell a destination is limited if you don't know the geography. Below find some links to some fun and challenging ways to test your geography skills : Geography Game: EuropeHow well do you know the countries of Europe. Test your knowledge here....play gameGeography Game: South AmericaHow well do you

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-33557971274396298942007-11-28T13:10:00.000-05:002007-11-28T13:20:12.266-05:00

Ask yourself this - "Who's in charge of my business?" Today, the answer is The CLIENT. Here's a link to a recent conversation that really highlights how much the consumer influences others - and how the web has really changed the way business works.Gone is the world of B to C (business to consumer) marketing. Web 2.0 is the era of C to C (consumer to consumer), where the business that's the

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-1242688068817169602007-11-28T09:59:00.001-05:002007-11-28T10:04:15.439-05:00

At our National Conference we discussed using a blog to document your trips and travels as you're cruising. Here's a real world example :http://www.cruisingwithamyanddebbie.blogspot.com/CruiseOne's Debbie Rosenthal & Amy Slovis have done a great job of really sharing their travels with the readers of their blog. I'm willing to bet after reading this blog many of you will want to go on a river

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-45359980970562118592007-11-21T16:42:00.000-05:002007-11-22T23:46:42.910-05:00

I'm just back from the PhocusWright Travel Technology conference. At the conference we had several industry experts evaluate our websites. Although there were a handful of suggestions, their feedback was very positive and led me to the conclusion that we're definitely ahead of many travel sites online in a great many ways. I'm currently scoping out some of the suggested changes, and none look to

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-21443222303906652372007-10-30T20:41:00.000-04:002007-10-31T10:21:58.132-04:00

The concept of branding yourself isn't a new one - in fact Tom Peters introduced the full concept of personal branding in 1997. In a nutshell, Peters says that your image determines your level of success and your future in today's business world. Peters says the same image building principles that apply to major corporations like Nike and Coca Cola apply to the way people choose an accountant or

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-62063595327018378482007-10-29T22:44:00.001-04:002007-10-29T23:11:34.162-04:00

If you haven't heard of LinkedIn, it's definitely something you should look into. LinkedIn is a networking website where you place a profile and make online profile connections with other members you know. Why network online? It's a great resource. For example when a vendor now calls me pitching his product I will often do a quick check via LinkedIn. If nobody recommends him, well chances are

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-39771922149668796972007-10-25T11:59:00.000-04:002007-10-25T12:29:17.785-04:00

National Conference was great ! Preperation from conference caused me to miss some postings that I would have normally done to my blog, and I'm finally through most of the emails and phone messages....so once again I'm ready to focus.Conference was an outstanding opportunity to meet many of our agents and franchisees, there were quite a few that I haven't met with in quite some time. The HQ

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-6830012498158549772007-09-28T09:03:00.000-04:002007-09-28T11:01:03.903-04:00

One of the first things I tell someone starting in the cruise business is to collect contact info (email and mailing address) of as many people who like to cruise as possible...especially those that don't currently buy from you.That sounds odd to some....collect the addresses of people that don't choose to do business with you? I've had people tell me ....but they didn't book with me why would I

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-36216383753895321632007-09-21T11:35:00.001-04:002007-09-21T13:19:17.127-04:00

You can now pick up the phone and call google toll free for information and have the search category results read to you over the phone by an automated voice prompt system. After specifying a city and a state, you'll need to ask for either a category or a company name. Google then reads all listings to you....next if you select a result by number (either by saying it or pressing the appropriate

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-65482863656453516962007-09-13T10:58:00.000-04:002007-09-13T11:49:56.105-04:00

I've had a few questions related to buying online advertising lately, and it's occured to me that many still buy blindly without knowing what type of results to expect from an online ad campaign. Here are 5 buying tips that may help :If you're buying on a Flat Fee basis, first find out how much traffic the advertiser gets to the website themselves. Some good tools to determine how much traffic

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7463582630444973360.post-80173595589231232802007-09-04T10:46:00.000-04:002007-09-04T11:16:40.470-04:00

You've probably heard the marketing adage "don't sell the steak, sell the sizzle". When it comes to selling travel nothing is more important than selling the experience. Getting the consumer to visualize themselves in a particular port or on a particular cruise ship is key to getting that client to part with their hard earned dollars. Clients buy a dream long before they ever buy cabin 2112 on B

Mike Monahanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12598322545870475012noreply@blogger.com0