Jason Demant, the creator of the travel itinerary platform UnAnchor, breaks down how to use the site (which is free to sign up) and start making itineraries you can sell. Jason gives you the steps to getting signed on to UnAnchor and some tips on what makes a good itinerary (my interview with Jason about it). Check it out this guide and head to UnAnchor.com to get started.
If any help is needed with the itinerary writing process, I encourage you to use our contact form or send questions to [email protected].
Starting an Itinerary → Choosing a Title → The Itinerary → Price → Description → Marketing & Selling → Getting Paid
You’ll need to sign up for an UnAnchor.com account to create an itinerary.
Navigate to http://www.unanchor.com/create-itinerary/ or just choose the “Create Itinerary” link located on every page.
Please choose carefully when considering the title of your itinerary. It should accurately reflect the nature of your itinerary, but you should also consider what search terms a user would use to find your itinerary.
The title is critical in having your itinerary indexed by Google. This is because the title will become the URL of your itinerary. Google places a large importance on the URL when indexing the page.
The title can always be changed at a later time.
The two critical pieces to keep in mind when writing an itinerary are:
- What information would you have wanted to know and would have been willing to pay for before you went to the travel destination? (Maps, what to see & what you can miss, how much things cost, hotels, restaurants, transportation…)
- Using just the itinerary you’ve written, can the purchaser get around the destination without any additional research? Including asking the hotel.
The DOs & DON’Ts of Writing A Travel Itinerary:
- Do provide a brief summary of the city(s)/country and the sights.
- Do provide links for additional information about the city, country, sights, restaurants, hotels.
- Do provide as many relevant maps as possible.
- Do provide names and places written in the local language.
- Do provide unique information about the destination (Ex: scams and customs)
- Don’t leave directions ambiguous. There are lots of distractions when coming into a new city, be as specific as possible.
- Don’t go overboard on the hotel recommendations. Most hotels are pretty similar in a given price range.
- Don’t forget about restaurant recommendations.
Prices must be a minimum of $0.99. There is no upper limit.
When determining the price for the itinerary– how much would you have paid for this information before you traveled? Would you have been pleased after you purchased this information? Pricing can be tricky — again, it can always be changed at a later time.
In Marketing terms, this is your “landing page”. This is the page to tell customers what they’ll be purchasing and to convince your customers why the itinerary is worth the money you’re charging for it.
Again, consider the keywords you would want users to be able to use to find your itinerary. This page will be indexed by Google.
6. Marketing & Selling The Itinerary
You’ve made the itinerary and you’re ready to sell it, now what? While we’ll do everything we can to help you sell the itinerary, there are many things you can do as well.
Share it with your friends on Twitter, Facebook or through E-mail.
You can also set up a Twitter alert or a Google alert. These alerts will send you an email when someone is looking for an itinerary for your destination. You simply put the phrase you want to be alerted about and they’ll send you an email when someone mentions that phrase.
Finally, you can run a Google Adwords campaign. Google Adwords are the text advertisements you see next to Google when you do a search. It will cost a little money to run these campaigns, but could quickly pay off with additional sales. If you decide to run a campaign, let us know, we’re happy to help with advice and throw in some money as well.
You’ll be able to see how many sales you’ve made by logging in to your account.
At the end of every month, we’ll send you a summary report of your sales. Fifteen days after the end of the month we’ll send your money. We can send your money via Paypal or a check in the mail. Whatever is easiest for you, there’s no charge for either.
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