Hi there,

This is Teena Hughes of http://BuildAWebsiteTonight.com and http://A-Night-in-Paris.com - oft times lurking here on the travel list :-)

First of all congrats on getting your website on the internet! It's always a challenge putting your dream online and turning it into a revenue stream, so I applaud that you've achieved your first step - bravo!  I've been following along with your progress, and would like to offer my two cents' worth, throwing it into the mix of great responses and suggestions you've already received.

I've been following the list's owner Tom for a few years (because he IS so smart, handsome, witty, etc) - oh - and he also has websites about travel, and I've learned a lot about travel websites through Tom.

Important things to never forget :

1. lots of hyperlinking between words and phrases on one page on my own website to another page on my own website (or blog) pages is crucial (and loved by the search robots)
2. providing what the readers are searching for, not just what I'd like to write about is paramount :-)
3. Build a LOT of pages to answer those readers' questions and searches, hundreds (or thousands) of your web pages online make you an expert in your niche - and provide more opportunity for adsense or other affiliate links and advertising on pages.  It all comes down to volume - numbers - how many pages in front of how many eyes and how many opportunities for clicks.

Of course there are many other important things to learn about websites, but these are at the top of my list.

I bought the domain for my travel website on 07/07/07 (well, the 6th of July, but this is easier to remember and looks cool :-) and have built up my site by learning from those who've gone before in the travel arena, as well as from other online sources - and a lot of hard work, studying and learning.

I believe that whether you start your website now -- or five years ago -- really doesn't matter. Yes, Adsense paid a lot more $ back in the day, but this is now, so no sense thinking about what's past.

Revenue Tips:

Whatever you choose to do with your site, it's best to never depend on only ONE source of revenue. Don't put all your eggs in the ole Adsense basket, as it will take a ton of traffic to click on a ton of links for you to get 1c per click (or sometimes a little more than that) to turn into a bucket o'cash.

Of course with hundreds of pages and a voracious crowd of website visitors, the clicks CAN add up to a tidy little sum. I've seen it happen.

As a travel website owner you have so many other potentially good sources of revenue which need to be explored, for example affiliate programs - reputable hotels, rental cars, travel insurance etc etc etc, all of which can bring in another slice of the pie.

Look outside the box and approach businesses who are looking for the same website visitors you already have - see if they'd like to advertise on your site (and cut out the middleman affiliate company).

I forget how many pages Tom has on his website, but my SEO Quake toolbar shows over 4700. This just doesn't compare to a site with one or two hundred pages, and the way Tom writes encourages the reader to click within the page, and keep clicking through to the info they want; the bonus is when they then decide to book something, buy something or click on adsense.

My blueprint :

• if you choose a travel niche which has a zillion visitors hungry for information
• if you write your pages in an entertaining and informative way
• if you engage your visitors in your stories about the destination
• if you write pages based on what those folks are searching for
• if you write a TON of pages answering questions based on search queries
• if you super-duper hyperlink words and phrases to the max between the site's pages, so every paragraph has links of some kind within it
• if you provide valuable information in an easy-to-absorb way
• and if you work hard at your website (like a full-time business) to provide all of these things ...

then yes, you have as much chance of having a successful revenue-providing website as anyone else on the internet!

I have friends writing their websites about a ton of different niches, from weddings to chocolate cakes and on to aircraft, and the ones who are successful are the ones who have put in all the hard work and treated their website as their full-time businesses, and haven't just written a few blog posts.

I've witnessed the success, and yes it can take 2-3 years, so I know that it can be achieved by anyone who is ready to put in the hard yakka (work).

I hope this makes sense, and I wish you all the very best of luck for your website.

PS - again, Tom's right - as well as hard work it is also LUCK ... and sometimes we can make our own luck :-)

Cheers
Teena!