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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Or browse in:
- Can I submit my site to CaptainTravel.com for free, without bidding on keywords?
- I see my site appearing in your results already. Why should I pay?
- How long does it take to get listed?
- What keyword phrases / search terms can I bid on?
- Can I receive help selecting relevant keywords or creating titles and descriptions for my listings?
- Do I need to bid on the singular and plural forms of the keyword phrase(s) I select?
- Can I get billed for my search listings or do I have to pay up front?
- What if I change my mind after I make my deposit; what is CaptainTravel.com's refund policy?
- How do I know when the money in my account is almost gone?
- What is the minimum bid for a CT listing?
- How do I increase my bids?
- What happens when more than one advertiser bids the same amount on a search term?
- Is there a way for my site to always be listed in first position for certain/all keywords?
- Can Captain Travel provide me with statistics on my traffic?
- How can I see how much traffic I've received?
- What happens if someone keeps clicking on my listing? What do you do to protect your advertisers from abusive activity?
- How to create a title for your CT listing.
- Are there any restrictions in the URL I can use in my Captain Travel listing?
- How to enter a URL for your CT listing.
- How to create a description for your CT listing.
- How does Captain Travel's Listing program work?
- How do I add keywords and bid amounts to CT's ad editor?
- Watching the tutorials shown on CT's Listing Editor?
- Creating a CT Listing: Step 2 - Finding additional search terms
- Creating a CT Listing: Step 2 - Creating a unique keyword list
- Creating a CT Listing: Step 2 - Searching for bids
- Creating a CT Listing: Step 2 - Adding keywords and bid amounts to form
- How can I search for hotel directories that focus on a specific location, for example, Sedona Arizona?
CT Listing Program
| 1. |
Q |
Can I submit my site to CaptainTravel.com for free, without bidding on keywords? |
| A |
CaptainTravel.com does not offer free advertisements. Our unpaid listings are provided by the Open Directory Project (ODP) and are intended to complement CaptainTravel.com's paid listings in the event that not enough paid listings are available. Only advertisers are guaranteed placement within our search results. |
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| 2. |
Q |
I see my site appearing in your results already. Why should I pay? |
| A |
If your site appears in our search results and you do not have an account with us yet, then your site is appearing as one of the unpaid listings provided by the ODP. Since we do control the listings provided by the ODP , we can not guarantee that your site places in our search results. To have guaranteed placement and control over where your Web site appears in our listings, you must create a bid account. |
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| 3. |
Q |
How long does it take to get listed? |
| A |
Keyword bids you add to Captain Travel via the bid manageer appear in our search results immediately. |
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| 4. |
Q |
What keyword phrases / search terms can I bid on? |
| A |
What keyword phrases / search terms can I bid on?
You may select any number of search terms that are relevant to your Web site. Here are a few guidelines:
- The keywords you select must either appear in your site pages or be
related to the content of your site. An example of the latter would
be bidding on the search term "accommodation british columbia."
If "accommodation" doesn't appear in the text of your site
but you are advertising a bed and breakfast, then clearly, this keyword
is relevant.
- Our objective is to provide the best searching environment for our
visitors and to provide our advertisers a way to connect with these
visitors. We do not allow multiple bids for the same keywords that link
to the same Web site. Duplicate bids will be removed from the system.
- To ensure we provide the most relevant content for our visitors, we
do not allow links to sites that contain little original content and
a high number of affiliate links or banners pointing to other sites.
If you're interested in advertising a travel-related product or service
of which you are an affiliate, please link directly to the affiliate
site and ensure that your affiliate code is embedded in the link you
provide CaptainTravel.
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| 5. |
Q |
Can I receive help selecting relevant keywords or creating titles and descriptions for my listings? |
| A |
We continually work to provide helpful instructions and FAQs at CaptainTravel. However, if you can not find the information or answers you are looking for, please feel free to send us your queries using the feedback form presented when you logout of your account. |
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| 6. |
Q |
Do I need to bid on the singular and plural forms of the keyword phrase(s) I select? |
| A |
Yes, it's necessary for you to bid on both the singular and plural forms of most keywords. |
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| 7. |
Q |
Can I get billed for my search listings or do I have to pay up front? |
| A |
We require that you have funds in your account before you can bid on keywords. We offer a free signup bonus for all new CaptainTravel customers, which is designed to give you time to become familiar with our system before making any further payments. A minimum payment of $25 is accepted on all CT accounts. |
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| 8. |
Q |
What if I change my mind after I make my deposit; what is CaptainTravel.com's refund policy? |
| A |
All but $50 is refundable. This covers administrative costs needed to issue refunds. |
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| 9. |
Q |
How do I know when the money in my account is almost gone? |
| A |
When your account balance is getting low, we will notify you by e-mail. You may also check your statement of account and add money at any time. |
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| 10. |
Q |
What is the minimum bid for a CT listing? |
| A |
There is no minimum bid at Captain Travel, therefore, you can bid as low as $0.01 for a keyword. |
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| 11. |
Q |
How do I increase my bids? |
| A |
You can edit your keyword bids at anytime by clicking on the "Manage Bids" link in your account manager. Increase your bid(s) by first producing a ranking report for your listing and then adjusting the price per keyword in the bid editor. |
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| 12. |
Q |
What happens when more than one advertiser bids the same amount on a search term? |
| A |
The first person to bid on the same keyword term will get the upper placement. |
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| 13. |
Q |
Is there a way for my site to always be listed in first position for certain/all keywords? |
| A |
No. Captain Travel uses an open bidding system, which allows advertisers to outbid other bidders in order to reach their desired position within our search results. |
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| 14. |
Q |
Can Captain Travel provide me with statistics on my traffic? |
| A |
You can see a detailed report of the number of clicks that you receive by clicking on the 'Ad Statistics' link in your account manager. |
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| 15. |
Q |
How can I see how much traffic I've received? |
| A |
We provide summarized and/or detailed reports right within your account manager in the 'Bidding Statistics' area. These reports will allow you to see the number of clicks that your Web site received along with the corresponding bid amount. |
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| 16. |
Q |
What happens if someone keeps clicking on my listing? What do you do to protect your advertisers from abusive activity? |
| A |
To address ongoing concerns surrounding pay-per-click abuse, Captain Travel has introduced a level of security that protects customers' account balances from being exhausted by unscrupulous visitors who repeatedly click on their web site listings. Our Session IP Tracking software defines acceptable limits of access and monitors those visitors who surpass those limits. For security reasons we cannot release further details about our security system. |
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| 17. |
Q |
How to create a title for your CT listing. |
| A |
The title of your listing is the short headline displayed in Captain Travel's search results that links to your Web site.
If you are creating a listing for your Web site's index or front page, then the title will most likely contain the name of your business. If you are creating an ad for different pages in your site, such as your reservation page, you may want to incorporate the word "reservations" into your title. The title is limited to 64 characters in length.
Here are a few examples:
Ex 1: Lake District Country Inn Bed and Breakfast
Ex 2: North Island Sea Kayaking Tours
Ex 3: Hanover Travel Insurance - Domestic and International Rates |
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| 18. |
Q |
Are there any restrictions in the URL I can use in my Captain Travel listing? |
| A |
URLs (or Web addresses) are limited to 1024 characters. The URL you enter into the keyword bid form should not generate pop-up windows, and should allow a one click return to Captain Travel using the browser's back button. |
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| 19. |
Q |
How to enter a URL for your CT listing. |
| A |
A URL (or Web address) is limited to 1024 characters and must begin with "http://." The URL you enter into the ad form should not generate pop-up windows, and should allow a one click return to Captain Travel using the browser's back button. |
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| 20. |
Q |
How to create a description for your CT listing. |
| A |
The description appears below the title in Captain Travel's search results.
This field is limited to 256 characters and is usually comprised of one or two descriptive sentences about your Web site. Your description should contain important keywords for the page or site, yet it should also be written in such a way that it will entice would-be visitors to your site.
Example:
A quiet 5-bedroom bed & breakfast located in Grassmere in England's Lake District offering, outdoor jacuzzi tub, organic home-cooked meals and scenic town tours. A shuttle service is also available to/from the local airport, bus terminal and train station. |
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| 21. |
Q |
How does Captain Travel's Listing program work? |
| A |
With Captain Travel's Listing program you create your own listings, choose keywords to tell us where to show your listings in our search results and pay only when someone clicks on them.
Our system is designed to give you the flexibility of mixing and matching words to create a multitude of keyword phrases. Unlike most pay-per-click search engines, our search engine does not return results based on specific keyword phrases but instead returns results based on combinations of words within a keyword string.
For example, your first bid could be made up of the following string of 12 single keywords:
camping tour tours canadian adventure alaska united states
canada british columbia travel
... and you may set a bid of $0.02 (2 cents) for each word in this string.
(You would normally place a higher bid on more important keywords or those that
are more popular and generate more competition.)
Your second bidding string, if you choose to make one, could include these
12 keywords:
rocky mountain explorer rockies yukon british columbia active
singles couples adults agency
... and, based on what your competition is bidding, you may choose to place bids of $0.01 (1 cent) on each of these keywords.
Because our bidding formula is based on the combined weight of $0.02 and $0.01 keywords (rather than a list of fixed keyword phrases), mixing and matching the individual words of these two keyword strings creates the equivalent of:
- 24 one-word combinations
- 276 two-word combinations
- 2,024 three-word combinations
- 10,626 four-word combinations
... which is practically impossible to replicate
with "fixed keyword phrase" bidding systems. That's 12,950 possible ways to find your Web site!
Continuing with our example, if a visitor to CaptainTravel.com searched for "alaska camping" and you hold the high bid for these individual keywords,
your Web site would appear at the top of CT's search results. If that visitor
clicked on your listing and came to your web site, your account balance would
be charged:
$0.02 + $0.02 = $0.04 (4 cents)
Alternatively, if this visitor searched "adventure camping tours in british
columbia" (and then clicked on your listing), your cost would be:
$0.02 + $0.02 + $0.02 + $0.01+ $0.01 = $0.08 (8 cents)
(Note: The word "in" is not counted.)
With Captain Travel's keyword bidding system, you can manage your keyword campaign with pin-point accuracy in terms of keyword positioning and value. Once you have created a bid, our "Rank Report" feature will tell you where your web site will place in the search results based on example keyword phrases in relation to your competition. |
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| 22. |
Q |
How do I add keywords and bid amounts to CT's ad editor? |
| A |
- First, analyse your Web site and list all the important keywords and phrases that best describe your business.
- Supplement this initial list by adding additional keywords found using Overture's keyword suggestion tool. Your list should now be comprised of at least 12 - 24 individual keywords and keyword phrases. The following is a sample list:
camping
tour
tours
travel agency
adventure camping tour
camping tours
rocky mountain
camping tours rocky mountains
camping tours canadian rockies
camping tour Rockies
camping tours Rockies
mountain camping tours
mountain camping tour
camping british columbia
camping yukon
camping tours alaska
camping tours united states
camping tours canada
camping tour canadian rockies
canadian camping tours
canadian camping tour
rocky mountain explorer
singles adventure tour
couples tour
tour for adults
adult tour
active singles
active couples
active adults
singles tours
- Remove all duplicate words from your initial list. We are now left with:
camping
tour
tours
travel
agency
adventure
tour
rocky
mountain
mountains
canadian
rockies
yukon
alaska
united
states
canada
explorer
singles
couples
adults
adult
active
- Using CT's Bid Search, search all single keywords to determine if any bids currently exist for the keyword. Record the amount needed to rank #1 for this keyword. If no bids exist for this keyword, you can set the bid amount to $0.01 to achieve a top ranking for the word.
You're left with the following list, ordered according to bid amount:
BIDS
$0.01
rocky
mountain
explorer
rockies
yukon
british
columbia
active
singles
couples
adults
agency
$0.02
camping
tour
tours
canadian
adventure
alaska
united
states
$0.03
canada
british
columbia
$0.04
travel
- Now separate your list according to the bids you've recorded. Group all keywords with high bids together to form a single list and add to the "Keywords #1" field. The bid amount your set will be the lowest bid of this group.
Next, group all keywords with the lowest bid together and set the bid accordingly.
Keywords #1 - $0.02
camping tour tours canadian adventure alaska united states canada british columbia travel
Keywords #2 - $0.01
rocky mountain explorer rockies yukon british columbia active singles couples adults agency
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| 23. |
Q |
Watching the tutorials shown on CT's Listing Editor? |
| A |
Our video tutorials are available in three formats - QuickTime, Real Media and Macromedia Flash.
Click on the links below to visit each Web site to download or upgrade your media player software. Each link will open a new browser window. Click [x] to close.
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| 24. |
Q |
Creating a CT Listing: Step 2 - Finding additional search terms |
| A |
Supplement your initial keyword list by adding additional keywords found using Overture's keyword suggestion tool. Your list should now be comprised of at least 12 - 24 individual keywords and keyword phrases. The following is a sample list:
camping
tour
tours
travel agency
adventure camping tour
camping tours
rocky mountain
camping tours rocky mountains
camping tours canadian rockies
camping tour Rockies
camping tours Rockies
mountain camping tours
mountain camping tour
camping british columbia
camping yukon
camping tours alaska
camping tours united states
camping tours canada
camping tour canadian rockies
canadian camping tours
canadian camping tour
rocky mountain explorer
singles adventure tour
couples tour
tour for adults
adult tour
active singles
active couples
active adults
singles tours
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| 25. |
Q |
Creating a CT Listing: Step 2 - Creating a unique keyword list |
| A |
Remove all duplicate words from your initial list. We are now left with:
camping
tour
tours
travel
agency
adventure
tour
rocky
mountain
mountains
canadian
rockies
yukon
alaska
united
states
canada
explorer
singles
couples
adults
adult
active
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| 26. |
Q |
Creating a CT Listing: Step 2 - Searching for bids |
| A |
Using CT's Bid Search, search all single keywords to determine if any bids currently exist for the keyword. Record the amount needed to rank #1 for this keyword. If no bids exist for this keyword, you can set the bid amount to $0.01 to achieve a top ranking for the word.
You're left with the following list, ordered according to bid amount:
BIDS
$0.01
rocky
mountain
explorer
rockies
yukon
british
columbia
active
singles
couples
adults
agency
$0.02
camping
tour
tours
canadian
adventure
alaska
united
states
$0.03
canada
british
columbia
$0.04
travel
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| 27. |
Q |
Creating a CT Listing: Step 2 - Adding keywords and bid amounts to form |
| A |
Now separate your list according to the bids you've recorded. Group all keywords with high bids together to form a single list and add to the "Keywords #1" field. The bid amount your set will be the lowest bid of this group.
Next, group all keywords with the lowest bid together and set the bid accordingly.
Keywords #1 - $0.02
camping tour tours canadian adventure alaska united states canada british columbia travel
Keywords #2 - $0.01
rocky mountain explorer rockies yukon british columbia active singles couples adults agency |
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| 28. |
Q |
How can I search for hotel directories that focus on a specific location, for example, Sedona Arizona? |
| A |
Try out our Advanced Search. By selecting the "Accommodation: Hotel" category + a location (either as the keyword "Sedona" or from the broader "Region" category), CT's directory search will return all the relevant directories. |
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