Caravan Park Affiliates

[lufc]

Hi,
I’m sure that this could prove to be a pointless post as people can just vote for anything they want; also I’m sure many (especially the top guys) won’t want to reveal the amount. But I’ll post it anyway.

Basically I am in the middle of building a network of websites all aimed at the caravan park holiday market. I mostly aiming at static caravan holidays although as I’m sure a lot of you find tourers, motorhomes and even tenting holidays can convert.

I have sent steady traffic to Haven and have seen some bookings come through, although in truth not as many as would have hoped for.

So basically after all that I am just wondering how many sales per month do you make on caravan park referrals (Haven, Butlins, Hoseasons, Park Resorts etc)

Thanks in advance,

Darren

[mattg]

Darren I'll be really surprised if you get any worthwhile data here. In particular those that do well have little incentive to publish that, and the merchants themselves understandably won't want to publish their figures to their competitors.

We've only just started in this area so have no meaningful volume of clicks to report on so far. We have a worthwhile epc on the programme we run, but it's a tiny sample so far so not reliable.

I would assume the distribution curve is very long tail - probably a very small number of affiliates, even just one or two, have 'cracked it' (by whatever method ....) & account for well over 50% of the final cookies, and the vast majority of affiliates, though numerous, generate very low numbers of final cookies each.

I use the phrase 'final cookies' rather than 'generate sales' intentionally ... the more I learn about this business the less I believe they are the same thing!

hth

[KirstyM]

Actually, I dabble a wee bit with this kind of traffic and it goes alright.

I make a nice profit without actually having to try all that hard, and the PPC converts quite well. I update my sites about twice a year, and the rest of the time they just look after themselves. I'll definately be doing more in this area in the future... so if you're trying to judge if you're wasting your time or not - I'd say its a pretty nice area to be in if you get your content / landing pages right. PPC traffic can be plenty cheap if you target the right words too.

I said 26 to 50 sales, but thinking about it I may do a bit more than that. Perhaps closer to 75 - 100. I don't pay huge amounts of attention I'm afraid.

There - see? Not every affiliate is all cloak and dagger about things!

[mattg]

Originally Posted by KirstyM There - see? Not every affiliate is all cloak and dagger about things!

Thanks Kirsty, appreciate that.

Wish I had more to share but it's still very early days for us.

[cottageguy]

Originally Posted by KirstyM Actually, I dabble a wee bit with this kind of traffic and it goes alright. I said 26 to 50 sales, but thinking about it I may do a bit more than that. Perhaps closer to 75 - 100. I don't pay huge amounts of attention I'm afraid. !

How much are these guys paying?
My specialist areas are cottages and log cabins and I would definitely notice the difference in those sale volumes. Perhaps Kirsty is just too rich to care?

Matt, I have a developer currently creating a caravan park price comparison engine and I am open to revenue-share on it, or any other ideas. You survuved the tall ship then?

Jon

[mattg]

Originally Posted by cottageguy How much are these guys paying?

A quick glance over my (possibly out of date) XLS shows about 4% as standard. (Goes to check - yeah Haven 4%, tho in fact Park Resorts seem to have raised their game to 6% good on 'em, get in there Kirsty, fuel prices are going through the roof here and the weather was great until recently I'm told so may be a good summer for UK holidays. Hoseasons 4.25%. Butlins 4%).

Was that a rhetorical question?

What would a typical sale value be? (£300-£500?).

Originally Posted by cottageguy Matt, I have a developer currently creating a caravan park price comparison engine and I am open to revenue-share on it, or any other ideas.

Would be pleased to work with you, will mail.

Originally Posted by cottageguy You survived the tall ship then?

I see no ships.

(To ponder: how can Tobermory claim to be in The Highlands when it's at sea level?)

[KirstyM]

Originally Posted by cottageguy How much are these guys paying? My specialist areas are cottages and log cabins and I would definitely notice the difference in those sale volumes. Perhaps Kirsty is just too rich to care?

Not at all. I know how much money I make from my travel merchants and that is what I pay attention to - as opposed to the number of sales.

Formula is quite simple. PPC Spend - Commission = Profit. Nothing else goes into my mind and stays in there. It is also spread over several merchants so it's hard to come up with a number.

[cottageguy]

Originally Posted by KirstyM Not at all. I know how much money I make from my travel merchants and that is what I pay attention to - as opposed to the number of sales. Formula is quite simple. PPC Spend - Commission = Profit. Nothing else goes into my mind and stays in there. It is also spread over several merchants so it's hard to come up with a number.

Thanks for clarifying. (although I think your formula is the wrong way round )

Is travel just a small part of your operation then? There must be easier places to make a dollar, I'm sure. And given you said it barely registers with you earlier, is it just a landing page / redirect arrangement?

Since I am asking lots of questions, I should disclose I run both a directory site and a Google maps site for cottages and log cabins, excluding holiday cottages group who reduced their commission to £7.50 per booking.

Cheers

Jon

[KirstyM]

LOL, yeah it was the wrong way round. I must stop posting before I've had two cups of tea in the morning.

Travel is something I do a little bit of, but I hope to do more in the future. Most of my money comes from other areas, but to my surprise my travel merchants are becoming more and more lucrative. I have created various ways of channeling the traffic. Generally these are quite detailed feed sites and some landing pages. I don't update them often, hence I'm not as "tuned in" to their activities as I should be.

All of my merchants pay % of sale as opposed to a lead based renumeration. £7.50 doesn't really give you very great margin to play with. No wonder you ditched them! I'd be looking for some better commissions if I were in your boat (or cottage - boom boom!).

I think next year I may look at doing a large content site of some kind for the UK travel side of things. More because I've not done anything like that before than anything else!

[mattg]

Travelmole say Hoseasons say UK is going to sell out this year:

http://www.travelmole.com/stories/1129770.php