Heather Topham Wood

Senior Travel Discounts
By: Heather Wood
 
You have recently retired and you are now planning to take the vacation you have always dreamed of.  Before you book with your local travel agent, search around for some great deals that are available exclusively for seniors.
 
Your best research method for discovering travel savings would be the Internet.  You can check out businesses’ websites within the travel industry to determine if they offer discounts to senior citizens.  If you do not find the rates directly on the site, do not hesitate to call and inquire about special senior discounts.  Also, be sure to check with the vendor about what age they recognize seniors.  Some places may offer discounts for the over 55 set while others will insist that you be 65 or older.
 
United Airlines offers a club for passengers that are 55 and older.  For $240 annually, you are able to receive discounted fares, double miles, and discounts on participating hotels and area attractions.  Alaska Airlines and Air Jamaica are two other airlines that have been known to offer reduced rates for seniors.  With these deals that tropical or Alaskan vacation that you have desired, no longer has to deplete your savings.        
 
Many hotels, airlines and rental car agencies will honor an AARP card.  Your AARP membership can save you hundreds of dollars while you are vacationing.  The annual fee for the card is a mere $12.50 and the AARP website provides you with information on where you are able to use your card.  The only requirement to join is that you are over the age of 50.  Once you sign up, you will receive a magazine on a monthly basis that will give you an idea on how to make the most out of your membership.  The money you save can be used for luxurious meals out or extra shopping money.

Train and bus companies will also extend savings to their senior travelers.  Greyhound and Amtrak will offer fares that are approximately 10%-15% less than the normal rate.  To qualify for Greyhound’s senior rate, you must be over the age of 62.  This age restriction also applies for Amtrak.

Many hotels will offer you a senior rate, even without an AARP membership.  Marriot offers senior travelers, 15% off their normal rate.  This discount is honored at over two thousand hotels worldwide.  Marriott has beautiful resorts throughout the Caribbean and Europe.

Choice Hotels offers a program called the Mature Travelers for vacationers over 50.  With this rate, you will save 10% at hotels, such as the Clarion, Cambria Suites and Comfort Inn.  For seniors over 60, a 20%-30% discount is applied when you make reservations in advance.  This rate is honored at most U.S. locations.

Rental car agencies will help ease the cost of your vacation with a decreased daily rate.  Budget and Enterprise are two rental car agencies worth checking out when you arrive at your destination.  These companies, depending on the location and type of vehicle, will offer about a 5%-15% discount.  With these savings, you can afford to upgrade and perhaps spend your vacation cruising around in a luxury sports car.

When you arrive at your destination, be sure to check for senior rates at all area attractions.  This includes museums, amusement parks and golf courses.  The admission may only be a couple dollars less, but these few dollars can add up if you plan to visit numerous attractions.

Every traveler wishes to make the most out of their vacation without exceeding their budget.  Now, as a senior you can enhance your trip by spending more on the things you enjoy and less on travel expenses. 

The Pros and Cons of Free Traffic
By: Heather Wood

As you set out to find a way to increase traffic to your website, you will find that there are numerous ways that you can go about this task. The most enticing method is to find a way to get free traffic to your site. Using a free method allows you to bring in visitors and will help your business become more profitable at no cost to you. However, there are drawbacks to using free web traffic methods. Yet if you use free traffic methods correctly you can reap the benefits without any cost to you.

Free methods require you to do the advertising for your site. Your goal is to promote your site and get as much traffic as possible to it. Utilizing search engine optimization (SEO) and keyword dense content is one of the most popular methods used to garner free traffic. By using this technique, this allows your webpage to appear on the first pages of search engine results. Another free method is to add your site to online directories. A traffic exchange is another means to get traffic at no cost to you. Another website will advertise your site in exchange for you placing their ad on your webpage. Your goal is to not only get a surge in website visitors, but also to attract targeted traffic.

The main benefit of using a free method to increase traffic is that it costs you nothing. Any traffic that you get will not take money away from your profit. You can use trial and error with the free methods available to you. If you see that one technique is bringing in more website visitors, you can focus your energies on using this approach. The most effective way to get free traffic is to bring in targeted customers from a high ranking search engine result. However, when a search engine performs an update, your site may end up placed on a back page instead of on the first couple pages of results. Another drawback to free traffic techniques is that many of the visitors that you will bring in are not targeted traffic. Ad directories are usually a group of users merely blasting out their ads to as many people as possible. Another disadvantage is that attempting to get free traffic usually takes up a lot of your time.

Paid traffic methods are usually fairly reliable at driving web traffic to your site. Paid marketing techniques can include hiring a web traffic service, ads on other websites, launching a search engine marketing campaign, adwords and e-zine advertising. You can find an online company that offers these services and hire them to bring in the most amount of targeted traffic possible.

Paying for traffic typically requires less work on your end and you will experience an increase in targeted traffic to your site. Paid methods are proven to bring in more targeted traffic than free techniques. Online marketing companies have the expertise to know how to bring in the highest number of website visitors that are looking to buy your company’s specific products or services. You can be an active participant in your marketing campaign and use adwords and keywords that can be related to your content. You may pay more for the highest searched keywords, but it will be worth it when your traffic increases. This method takes the guesswork out of attracting targeted visitors to your site. A drawback of paid traffic methods is that there are many companies that offer these types of services, so it may be overwhelming to try and decide on one.  Paid traffic services can also be expensive when the competition attempts to drive up costs by entering the field.

Although free and paid traffic methods have their advantages and disadvantages, a free method can bring in a lost of visitors without requiring you to put out any overhead costs.