Cherie, I really want to do this, where do I start? You know, if you really want to do it and again it's not for everyone, but if you really want to do it and your heart's in it, it's a little bit of work to get started and it's worth the persistence. It took me a lot of persistence to get it, my students it doesn't take as much because I can lead hem though, but you do, I highly recommend taking tour director and tour management training to get started so you know when you go to the employer you have something to sell. For more details go to www.dishadvice.com .Other classes that I highly recommend would be history, geography, geology, horticulture, they are going to want to know about every plant, they are going to forget about two seconds from now but they want to know about every plant, art, architecture, in Europe and other countries the guides already and the tour directors are required to have that information. It's a two year program, we don't have that in the United States, that's why I wrote my textbook, I'm trying to get it into the colleges but in the meantime you are going to have to educate yourself on those topics. That looks real good on your resume too, I often have people in my classes that have taught history and geography, elementary teachers that have taught California history of missions, it looks great on their resume. You need to get your letter out, your cover letter, you need to follow up, a lot of people get in with emergency hiring, they say ?we're not hiring now? and then when they need someone in a hurry they hire. Most companies don't train but some will hire, and this is becoming more common now, they will hire trained tour directors and then they will put them on a tour with an experienced tour director with a group. Now that experienced tour director doesn't have time to train you as a tour director, they have a group to take care of, that's not their job but they'll send you along so that you can learn; their properties, their documentation, their paperwork, their optional tours, how they, their particular procedures for their company, which is great, so if you have the training you go in and you say I know how to do tours. A lot of them don't have to lie and say I've done tours but I'm a trained tour director, then it's a good step into the business and a good professional resume cover letter, approach it as you would any job because it is competitive, but they always need professionally trained tour directors and guides. So thank you today for watching the videos, my name is Cherie Anderson and this has been brought to you by Expert Village and I want to thank you and I hope that you've been able to learn a little bit about what I love, I love this industry, travel and tourism, it's the largest and fastest growing industry in the world and in the United States and most people don't know that. For more information logon to www.apples-recipes.com .There are so many opportunities that I have touched on today and additional opportunities that I haven't had time to touch on today. If it's for you I want to invite you to my website which is Tour training. from there you can go to my class, get paid to travel, offered at over fifteen hundred colleges throughout the world, also my textbook The Tour Director Training Guide. Again, it's not for everyone but if you love travel and you love people and you think you have the background and the skills for this let me help you get into the business and enjoy traveling so happy trails.
After years of working with authors on Internet tours, talking about blogging, podcasting, social networking, and all other assorted online promotional tools, the basic questions still remain: How the heck do I promote myself on the Internet? Broken down in simple steps, this article is designed to give you a good starting point to kick your Internet promotion into high gear. It's not difficult but you have to start somewhere. Let's start with your web site.
Web site: Why would someone visit it? Why would anyone care? Before you start marketing yourself online, ask these basic questions. You can get anyone to a web site once, but getting them back a second, or third time is where authors often lose momentum. Studies have shown that less than 14% of web site visitors will buy the first time they visit. It's only on the second or third visit that they decide to make a purchase. Anyone can drive traffic to your site, it's getting them back that counts.
The point of your tour: getting incoming links
Here's the thing: anyone can get incoming links, the point is, you want GOOD and quality incoming links from sites that can actually send you traffic and readers that will buy your book. We get numerous calls from authors who have bought into inexpensive programs that do nothing more than drive unqualified, "tire kicking" traffic to their web site. This kind of traffic is not going to do you any good; in fact, if you're not careful, getting a bunch of errant links from sites that Google doesn't feel are right for your topic or market can get you downgraded online instead of a better ranking. So how do you beat this?
First, you'll want to download the Google toolbar. This toolbar comes with a Page Ranking piece (in some cases you may have to download this separately). This Page Rank is important because it's an indicator of how important Google thinks a particular site is. Ideally sites you target will have a Page Rank of 4 or above. We like to target sites that have a ranking between 4-6. Then look at the nature of the sites you're pitching. Are they related to your topic? Do the sites have lots of great content? Would they consider reviewing your book, maybe interviewing you or excerpting your book? Regardless of what they're willing to do, the idea is to use these sites to help spread the message about your book and give them great content. All sites are looking for great content and if you can offer it to them, it's a win-win. Here's what not to do: don't just link swap with your friends. I know writers who belong to writer's groups and just swap links with other writers. This isn't good for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that the site you might be linking to (or getting a link from) has nothing to do with your topic.
Slow and steady wins the race: The idea of 'touring' or promoting yourself online is about building traffic, links, and authority status within search engines. I tend to reference Google a lot since most of us default search there. People ask me how long they should promote themselves online, I tell them for as long as they need to. As long as there are sites you can pitch yourself to you can continue promoting. Our web site, Author Marketing Experts, has never been promoting in an aggressive fashion. Yes, we use new promotional techniques and cutting-edge Web 2.0 trends but it's never been about a fast push; it's always been about slow and steady growth. Because of this we have great ranking, linking, and placement on Google. I've never paid for a single ad-word placement or fancy traffic program that leverages links only.
Using blogs, podcasts, and article syndication: the Internet is full of tools to use. Blogs are a great way to promote to but consider this: why not comment on blogs in your market that are getting a lot of traffic? You may not be able to get a review but you can always comment and, you'll get a link back to your site in the process.
Podcasting is another great tool, there are a ton of podcasts out there that you can promote yourself to. Check out iTunes and Podcast Alley to find some that might suit your topic and market.
Article syndication: another powerful but often overlooked market. Write a piece between 500 and 2,000 words and send it out into cyberspace via sites like Isnare, Ezine Articles and Article City and watch the links start building to your site.
If the idea of social networking, social bookmarking, video and the like are overwhelming then I recommend that you start simple: begin by pitching yourself online and see what you can grow from there. Most of the time the main reason an author abandons any thought of an online campaign is because they are overwhelmed by their choices. Start small and build from there, this is how we did it and how we grew our market. You can too. Then, when you've gotten your 'sea legs' when it comes to Internet promotion, you can branch out into other areas.
Both Nahan & Penny Sansevieri are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Nahan has sinced written about articles on various topics from Personal Desktop, Email Marketing. www.tours-guide.comwww.greateducationonline.com. Nahan's top article generates over 1300 views. to your Favourites.
Penny Sansevieri has sinced written about articles on various topics from Build Online Business, Politics and Writing. Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a book marketing and media relations expert whose company has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. Visit. Penny Sansevieri's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.