It's been two weeks since I spoke about search marketing at the ABTA Travel Convention and I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I learned in Palma. We attend the Travel Convention to listen rather than talk (although it was nice to be invited to talk too this time) and here are three areas that got me wound up: There are far too many senior people that continue to talk about 'online' as if it's something new. In their defence, some people only just seem to be getting used to computers, nevermind the web. I met one delegate who told me his company had only just (last year) implemented a computerised booking system.  I can't say I'm too surprised by this, particularly when it comes to some of the smaller agents. But I was amazed to hear some senior people from big organisations talking about 'online' as if it's a recent thing. I heard a couple of people talk about prioritising the online opportunity as if this put them ahead of the curve. The truth is that for...

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Working as a PR consultant in a SEO agency, I get sent requests from journalists on a daily basis. These requests for stories, products or just general information can often result in fantastic (linked) coverage for our clients on high-profile websites such as Handbag.com and Guardian.co.uk but recently I've noticed more and more requests coming in from, shall we say, less traditional media outlets... Retailers! In the past few weeks alone, I've spotted Boden seeking contributions for its 'new community blog' and Dune looking for 'fabulous products, across all luxury lifestyle sectors for placement in the Dune Loves grid'. It's refreshing to see - because at long last it means that fashion retailers are recognising that in such competitive online selling spaces, product alone is simply not enough to bring traffic to your website, engage shoppers and convince them to buy. Product alone won't keep them coming back either. But quality content will. Take a look at...

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We're busy sharing secrets. Hot on the heels of the search roundtable for luxury travel businesses that we ran in association with TTG in April we hosted a similar event for cruise businesses in association with Travolution in May. Some of the industry's biggest hitters were in attendance and it was a great afternoon of information sharing and discussion. June's copy of Travolution has some great coverage courtesy of TWgroup Head of News Lee Hayhurst. If you're looking for a bang-up-to-date search overview it's not a bad place to start and should take up no more than 15 minutes of your time. You can find the coverage (and the rest of the issue) here. We're doing a lot of roundtable events at the moment as part of an ongoing strategy to help travel and retail businesses understand what marketing means in 'the age of Google'. Get in touch if you'd be interested in attending a future event. We're happy to share our secrets if you're happy to share your experiences...

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