I've been compiling a holiday activities directory for our area of France since 2003. Originally I compiled it, wrote articles on certain subjects etc just for use by guests of La Croix Spa. However, for many reasons (see expanded article) I split this out from La Croix last year and have totally de-branded it (so there is no commercial reference back to my business).

It is now available as an informative "what is there to do?" resource for all holiday accommodation owners and activity providers in our region of France. By linking to this directory from their own property websites, all property owners and activity providers can get a listing on the appropriate pages in this directory. Why have I done this? Read More... Read more

Accelerating traffic to your site

If web marketing was like baseball, then there are definable "bases" of activity a website has to reach in order to score runs (i.e. get visitors and lots of business). Obviously the trick is knowing how to reach each of those bases and determining a way to get to the next.

You cannot turn up to baseball with no training, poor kit and no knowledge of the rules and still expect to score runs. So websites that fail to write compelling content, develop an appealing look and feel; and which ignore search engine compliance can expect no time "at bats". i.e. there is just no point getting started. Indeed, such sites will forever remain "on the bench".

But if your website is out on the plate and the pitcher is winding up the ball and the crowd is starting to roar... What next? Read More... Read more

Sites of interest this month

We are involved with the following sites this month:

Fishing in France at Le Marteau

Fishing in France at Le Marteau

This fishingfrance.co.uk is an owner-written website which we're helping to make search-compliant and taking the opportunity to enhance a couple of content and look-and-feel aspects as well. This should get the site to "first base" as I describe in the article above and we can then have a look at subsequent steps depending on what the analytics and business experience tells us. Catch your dream carp at Le Marteau:

http://www.fishingfrance.co.uk.

Green Energy

The collective experience of the Gree Energy sites is that traffic has tripled from August levels of around the 500 visitors mark to just over 1,500. These August statistics were themselves double the level when I started with the client in April (about 250). Some of this traffic is undoubtedly seasonal and economic - as winter approaches and oil prices rise again, people are looking for energy efficient heating alternatives. However, the stats are also suggesting there is considerable "Brand awareness" growing thanks to the Pay-Per-Click ads, the websites themselves and environmental awareness campaigns. This is definitely the time to be leveraging everything the most we can out of the seasonal traffic and we are most defintely working on "Second base" tactics to ensure traffic levels continue growing even as Spring approaches. See :

http://www.greenenergy-eu.com and

http://www.infrared-heating-redwell.co.uk

La Croix Spa

The re-write of the the French home page I explained last month (you'll remember we realised that the French site should not remain just a translation of the English) has propelled the collective "La Croix sites" to the same monthly traffic levels as Green Energy (i.e. about the 1500 mark). (And this is most definitely "out of season"). So we're full for Christmas and New Year, which is very nice indeed. Compare the two sites:

http://www.lacroixspa.com and

http://www.lacroixspa.fr

Domaine Chater

We have started inevntorying relevant links for Domaine Chater and hope to see continued good cheer in this great website.

Check out Award-winning French Duras Wines at http://www.Domainechater.com to see and purchase their products on line.

Xoom Hire

Work is going all-out to extend Xoom's web reputation via link building which got off to a good start this month. If this has the same effect as it has for La Croix and Green Energy, then traffic levels should continue to rise, but it is a ferociously competitive market.

See http://www.xoomhire.com and consider using them next time you want to find the best car rental deal.

Other Special Features:

Stay abreast of E-marketing news, facts and figures:

http://www.emarketer.com

Read past newsletters:

Click here for our newsletter archive

We hate SPAM as much as you do.

If you wish to unsubscribe, please click on the following link and an email will be generated telling us to remove you from our distribution list.

Unsubscribe here!

Alternatively reply to this email with the word “Unsubscribe” first word in the title.

On the other hand, if you liked this newsletter, please forward it to a friend.

And good or bad, leave a comment on our blog! Yerp!

To unsubscribe, click here