How to entry online travel market

[foweymoon]

hiya everyone,

we recently launched this site : alternative-airlines.com , offering the widest possbile choice of flight booking.

There is still more content to be updated in terms of layout and booking process, however I'd be very happy to hear your thoughts/opinions on the site - good and bad plus how you think this can be better marketed - especially on positioning our brand, improving rankings....

also urgently need to find resource for defining our market(useful online research, related site..)

Many many thanks for your help! :)

foweymoon

[Aspect Investments]

I dont like the map of all the destinations in the background. It makes the text harder to read.

[wood1e2]

I agree, the background image makes it more difficult to read your text.

I would look at using your title on your pages in a better way. Look at the way http://www.cheapflights.co.uk using the title to describe the page.
Fill your pages with content that matches, or includes the keywords you want to promote you website under.

Look at getting link backs from directories such as Yahoo directory and Dmoz. Stcik to quality directories, and don't look at giving reciprocal links, unless from IATA, or other quality organisations that will give your website more weight, and benefit to your visitors. Like the airlines you are advertising, although I am not sure they would give you a link back.

Write some articles, talking about cheap flights...or whatever area of the flight industry you wish to promote the sight, then upload those articles to various article websites.

"Alternative Airlines: How to decide"
Bring that up to just under the Featureed Airlines, visitors will want to know what/where and how immediately, and will possibly not scroll down.

Make sure all your images have "alt" tags, with descriptions that fit, or state keywords.

Drop me a PM if you require more help :)

[Astaroth]

Agree on the map

The list of all the airlines down the side look amatuerish to me

Not keen on the airline listing pages either, why would most people care what planes they have? but this takes the key slot. The about the airline is difficult to read too.

Booking process is wrong to me. If you select to book on an airlines page it leads you to believe that you will be booking with that airline but then after trying to make a booking from Afriqiyah Airways they did not feature in the listings but there was no "sorry Afriqiyah Airways is not available but these other airlines are offering flights that meet your requirements".

Likewise it says to enter airport name but fails to find heathrow, gatwick etc

I assume these elements are not in your control though but are part of the TeMyra.net system?


Who is your target market for this site? From personal perspective I am not overly bothered who happens to be the carrier but much more about my destination, price and as an inbetween factor, that I trust the company I am booking with.

[foweymoon]

Agree on the map

The list of all the airlines down the side look amatuerish to me

Not keen on the airline listing pages either, why would most people care what planes they have? but this takes the key slot. The about the airline is difficult to read too.

Booking process is wrong to me. If you select to book on an airlines page it leads you to believe that you will be booking with that airline but then after trying to make a booking from Afriqiyah Airways they did not feature in the listings but there was no "sorry Afriqiyah Airways is not available but these other airlines are offering flights that meet your requirements".

Likewise it says to enter airport name but fails to find heathrow, gatwick etc

I assume these elements are not in your control though but are part of the TeMyra.net system?


Who is your target market for this site? From personal perspective I am not overly bothered who happens to be the carrier but much more about my destination, price and as an inbetween factor, that I trust the company I am booking with.

you are probably right, Tamara is not working properly .....
I agree your point about destination thing, I do believe most people are still looking for detination-related information...just we havn't found the right way to approach them so far.
amazingly we get lots of airlline searchers, which means that they already know where they want to go...but I really don't know how big this market is. ...

[Astaroth]

I would wonder if the airport searchs are possibly bigger than the airline ones though?

The only times I have searched for an airline is when I have found they are the ones that do the route I want or (to contradict myself) have already found a cheap price for an airline from one site and want to see if another site is offering the same flight cheaper.

Not sure if it is potentially a bigger market to intercept the people searching for Cairo Airport to see which airlines fly there rather than waiting for them to do that and then capture them when they search for airlines X, Y & Z?

[foweymoon]

em...
totally agree, I think 'search for airline names' are more informative-related travel site concept...
but on destination point, maybe this is a alternative view of market entry...as so many travel sites design based on destination point.....
:rolleyes: still working on
simplified our site is defintely a must

cheers

[Ian J]

I have been researching the flight market this week to book my summer holiday and the most obvious question that I would ask is "Does yours actually work"

Looking at flying from East Midlands to Crete on Sunday 22nd July and all of the major flight search websites tell me that the cheapest flight is the Thompson flight at 7:00am which will cost the three of us £1,396.

Putting the same request into your website and the cheapest cost is not only £4,233 but we have to change twice too.

[foweymoon]

I have been researching the flight market this week to book my summer holiday and the most obvious question that I would ask is "Does yours actually work"

Looking at flying from East Midlands to Crete on Sunday 22nd July and all of the major flight search websites tell me that the cheapest flight is the Thompson flight at 7:00am which will cost the three of us £1,396.

Putting the same request into your website and the cheapest cost is not only £4,233 but we have to change twice too.

hiya Ian,

There is a little problem on server since Friday. I would like to investigate your request and give you a reply in details on Mon. I hope this helps, and also you can drop me a email or leave your contact number to us then we can ring you back.

cheeers

foweymoon

[Ian J]

also you can drop me a email or leave your contact number to us then we can ring you back.


Too late as I booked on Thursday

[Cornish Steve]

As someone else asked, what is your target market? Do you offer the lowest possible price, or the greatest schedule flexibility, or tickets at short notice, or the widest selection of destinations, or what? Tourists looking for a cheap holiday have completely different needs than business managers needing to get somewhere obscure at short notice.

In the end, everything boils down to strategy. That determines your target market, your points of differentiation, and your message.

[foweymoon]

Too late as I booked on Thursday
sorry, we cannot help this time.
but thanks for your comment!

[foweymoon]

As someone else asked, what is your target market? Do you offer the lowest possible price, or the greatest schedule flexibility, or tickets at short notice, or the widest selection of destinations, or what? Tourists looking for a cheap holiday have completely different needs than business managers needing to get somewhere obscure at short notice.

In the end, everything boils down to strategy. That determines your target market, your points of differentiation, and your message.

Yep, that's very good point.
thanks
:redface:

[Richard Preston]

Hi, I don't have to many extras on the webpage as I think the main points have been covered off. Your site interests me though as I am planning a business that would involve running a commuter service from Durham Tees Valley in to Southend (and Via train, London) and the North West (Prestwick) it would seem the two services would compliment each other.