FAQ/Help Frequently Asked Questions on RealAdventures

Tips for Success

RealAdventures has made it a point to allow each listing to be as comprehensive as possible. This section introduces and explains many of the features you get with a RealAdventures listing as well as how and why to use them. Help/FAQs for Travel Providers

Please select from the options below:

Listing Images
    Why use pictures?
    How do I add images?

Descriptions & Text
   Why is Descriptive Text so important?

Electronic Postcards
   What are they?
   How do I use them?

Search Engines
   Why should I enter my listing in a Search Engine?
   How do I get into Yahoo and other directories?

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Why use Pictures?

A picture is worth a thousand words. It's a cliche but it's true. RealAdventures allows you to include up to 26 images with your listing and most listing partners have found that images are great tools for grabbing the interest of consumers who have many options to choose from. We have statistically proven that listings that utilize images increase their hits and returns up to 500%

Don't take our word for it though. Browse other listings on RealAdventures and see what catches your eye. Our guess is that you'll be more likely to click on a listing with a nice photo than a listing without one. Some Listing Partners have had success with a text only description but we strongly advise all our listing partners to include at least one picture in their listing.

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How do I add images?

You can upload up to 26 images by using the image submission form in your listing manager. To get there click on Update Your Listing from the left hand menu. After you enter your listing number and password you will be logged into your listing manager.

Once inside you can control all aspects of your listing. To add images click on "Listing Images" from the menu on the left and then on the "Select" button. This will bring you to the listing images section where you can upload your pictures. Instructions to do so are on the page.

Please be aware of the following:

• For technical legal and copyright reasons we simply cannot and will not take pictures from any web site even if it is your own site and even if you provide written authorization. But if you have the authority to do so you may be able to save those images to your computer and then submit them to us. Once you have your images in electronic format follow the directions below to add them to your listing.
• All images must be in .gif .jpg or .bmp format. All others will not be viewable
• After we receive the image a prompt will be displayed on your screen indicating that it has been received and will be compressed/converted within 48 hours.

If you have more questions about adding the images please go to our Adding and Updating Your Listing FAQ.

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Why is Descriptive Text important?

RealAdventures aims to create a comprehensive database that allows travellers to plan entire trips while never leaving the site. For this reason including an accurate and alluring description of your service or property will make your listing stand out to the visitor. Simply writing "See our Website" will deter many travellers who do not want to jump from site to site. All listings are given a link to their website for more information but RealAdventures is designed to give most of that information up front and without leaving the page.

Once you catch the attention of web surfers with your images you need to make sure that your descriptive text keeps their attention. We understand that many listing partners are pressed for time when adding their listings and therefore they make spelling and grammar mistakes. However it is worth the effort to check your description for such errors. When users see listings with frequent misspellings or grammatical errors many times they will simply surf on to the next listing.

The text of your listing is controlled by you and RealAdventures will not edit the spelling or the grammar of your listing unless you ask us to. Therefore it is important that you spell check your descriptions before you enter them. We suggest taking some time and spell checking what you're going to say in a word processor like Microsoft Word then cutting and pasting the text into your listing description.

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What are Postcards?

Any picture on the RealAdventures web site including your listing images can be sent via e-mail as a RealPostcard. Simply click on any image within a listing and you will be able to send that image to friends and customers along with a customized message. All you have to do is fill in the recipient's e-mail address your e-mail address your message and click on "send". Click here for a selection of our favorite postcard images.

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How do I use them?

Show customers exactly what you have to offer by sending them postcards with one of your images and a short message. Any postcard you send with your image will automatically include links to your full listing so that they can see a detailed description of your services and get information about how to contact you directly.

To send a postcard click on any image in your listing. You will be brought to a screen where you enter your name and e-mail address your recipients name and e-mail address a subject and a message. (Note: you can send to more than one person at a time). You can also select different postcard styles. From there click on "Preview" or "Send". Its as easy as that.

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Why should I enter my listing in a Search Engine?

Being listed on a search engine is great since lots of people use them to find what they want on the web. The unfortunate fact is there isn't any way to guarantee that you'll show up as the first second or even thirtieth result in a search. While we're always working on getting you listed with the major search engines there's a limit to how much we can do.

Some important sites which we can't register you at are Yahoo! and The Open Directory Project (DMOZ). These websites are very popular resources for finding things on the web but the application process is long and involved and requires your personal information. Also each webpage is reviewed by an editor who ultimately decides if a page is selected for inclusion in their directory. For these reasons RealAdventures does not submit your listing to either of these directories.

However a few of our listing partners have had their pages successfully added to these directories by doing some work on their own. We encourage all our listing partners to submit their listing pages to web directories like Yahoo!. We've also written up some helpful instructions on submitting your RealAdventures listing to some of the most popular web sites.

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How do I get listed in Yahoo and other directories?

1. Getting listed in Yahoo! or a comparable web directory is often very difficult for small businesses and can take anywhere from two weeks to months to accomplish. The reason it takes so long is that when you submit your listing to Yahoo! for consideration they eventually send a human editor to your listing to make sure it's a valid addition to their directory. They are actively concerned with the quality of the sites they're listing which is why you want to make sure your listing has no spelling or grammar errors.
   
   
2. Once you've checked your listing for errors go to www.Yahoo.com
   
   
3. The secret to getting listed on Yahoo! is finding the perfect category for your business. This requires some effort but generally the more specific you are with your classification the better chance you have of being in the 30 percent of accepted sites on Yahoo!
   
   
4. Some people think that the best place to get listed is directly under a category like "Travel & Transportation," which is only one click off the main page. But being listed in a category which is very specific is often a better idea since people who search in a specific category are generally just the kind of target audience you want to reach. In addition if you submit your listing to a very specific category you are much more likely to be accepted than if you submit to a more general one.
   
   
5. Your best bet is to be very specific about where you are located and then specify what you do. From the Yahoo main page click on the "Regional" category. Then drill through your options being as specific as possible as to your region. If you're located in Bangor Maine drill down through the path "Regional/U_S__States/Maine/Cities/Bangor" before you select your business category. Because there are fewer businesses competing for such highly specific categories you have a much better chance of getting listed.
   
   
6. Now that you've drilled down to your local region select your appropriate listing category (most likely under "Travel & Transportation" or "Business & Economy"). Inside each of these categories are sub-categories like "tour operators" or "bed and breakfasts" etc...
   
   
7. Find the category with businesses like yours then find a link at the bottom of the page which says "Suggest a Site." Click this link and you'll have to go through a few pages of instructions. Read each page and proceed through the steps until you are prompted for your site's information. Always use your business' name as the title of your page and your own e-mail address as the contact information. The web page address is simply the web address of your listing. Or you can cut and paste the following code into the URL box substituting your listing number for each "X":
   http://www.AtlasMarketingServices.com/mv/showlink.mv?mListingNumber=XXXXXXX
   Once you've submitted your webpage check to make sure you get a confirmation screen thanking you for your submission and informing you that your webpage might take a long time to get reviewed. At this point all you can do is sit back and wait to see if your attempt is successful. Every week try searching the directory for the name of your business (i.e. the title of your listing). If a month goes by and you still can't find it try re-submitting and see if you can't get even more specific with your category than the first time around.
   
   
8. This process is generally the same for other important directories like The Open Directory Project and Looksmart. Follow the same general steps as you did for Yahoo! and don't give up. If you've got a useful service to offer these directories should list you.
   
   
9. One last note: We here at RealAdventures are always interested in helping drive business your way. Whatever helps you helps us too.
   
   

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