Members who do not have the current version link block posted -- identified by the code "r7" within the [ ] at the end of the link block -- must contact me immediately regarding their continued membership in the Alliance! If in doubt, contact me.

The thrust of the changes of Gold memberships are designed to (A) improve click-through from, and page-rank of, destination pages to your benefit, (B) improve referrals to you from craigslist ads that I post, and (C) to enroll you, at no cost to you, in "Vacation Rentals In The News" providing yet more exposure for your websites.

A. RAGA Destination pages

Currently, RAGA destination pages generally include a brief description of your company with links to your website, plus a lot of vacation and travel information for the page visitor. The goal is that the visitor to a destination page, finding the information useful, will park there for awhile and click over to your website to get more helpful information from your website and to do business with you. To improve the referrals to your business, I will be adding an email form for the visitor to contact you directly.

REPLY REQUESTED - For the form, I plan on using your email address that I use to communicate with you, i.e., incoming email from this form will be directed to the same email address that I used for the email you are reading to reach you. If you wish a different email address to be used (for example, to direct the email to your reservation personnel), please let me know ASAP. By using an email form, the email address will not be displayed or extractable from the code.

Historically, RAGA destination pages have included much information and links pertaining to general travel and tourist information ... what to see, what to do, where to go, etc. To the extent that this content does not speak to "vacation" or "rentals", that content dilutes the vacation rentals theme of the page. That means that Google will not place a destination page as high in SERP as might otherwise be possible. The remedy for this is to isolate the general travel and tourist information in an "iframe". Google does not crawl the iframe and therefore does not see that content, and does not index that content. Therefore, the content that Google does crawl is richer in "vacation rentals" content. Or to say it in a Google-ish way, density of "vacation", "rentals", and "vacation rentals" in the content will be improved to levels that signify to Google that those words and terms are indeed keywords.

This work has already begun. As I'm the only one doing this work, it will take some time, but that's OK because Google doesn't like massive and sudden changes to linking across a site. You can see a sample of this new approach at the Santa Fe destination page. There is no work for you to do here, I will take care of it all.

B. Craigslist ads

As you know, I've been posting craigslist ads for your businesses over the past four years at a high frequency. The ads included links to your respective RAGA destination pages. You benefit from visitors to the RAGA destination pages clicking through to your website, and I benefit from the Google ads on the destination pages to which the craigslist ad viewers are drawn.

Beginning this year, I've seen much less tolerance by craigslist users for the ads that I post, with the result that the ads are frequently flagged by the users and subsequently removed by craisglist. Craigslist does not evaluate ads, they just automatically remove ads if some unspecified number of viewers flag the ads, for any reason whatsoever. I surmise craigslist users are flagging the ads because they aren't seen as "local" given that the Alliance is national, and craigslist is about local advertising.

So what I want to do is post ads that present more of a local face on the ads -- after all, all of you are running businesses local to the craigslist area in which I advertise. Whereas I've created my own ads before, going forward I want to post ads that include text that comes from you that helps to communicate that local presence, in one of two ways. First, with your permission, I could lift some of the text from your website. Second, you could write the ad you'd like to see posted and provide it to me (with the understanding that I might edit it somewhat).

Additionally, as part of the improvement to destination pages, I'd like to add content you provide to demonstrate that the destination pages are about local businesses. For example, I'd like to include your mailing address and phone number to demonstrate your business presence in the community. So I am also requesting that you take a few minutes and review your destination page and offer updates and expansion of the material there, with emphasis on explaining that you are local to your community. I may choose to edit that material to blend in with the pages, or to improve the flow of the ideas.

If you wish, you can opt out of having me post ads for you. If you do not opt out, I will interpret that to mean that you wish me to be your "data entry clerk" for this purpose, in effect as an extension of your staff (and at no cost to you and with no obligations on your part). The reason I go through the non-trivial effort of manually posting craigslist ads is that it brings attention to the members of the Alliance and thereby attention to the Alliance website and its destination pages. And, by the way, I can't guarantee anything about those ads or even ongoing success in posting them.

REPLY REQUESTED -- If you do not opt out of the craigslist advertising that I do, either give me permission to lift some content from your site (typically a few sentences from your home page) or provide me the text that you wish me to post. Also please provide any enhancements to your destination page listing. Or if you choose to opt out, please so indicate. I will not begin posting ads until I see your reply.

C. Membership in 'Vacation Rentals In The News'

Previously, I suggested that you become a member of Vacation Rentals In The News (VRN) (for which there was a modest fee). Because I firmly believe that VRN can bring a lot more exposure for our websites and see the need to build a critical mass of members to demonstrate the concept, I have decided to offer memberships in VRN to RAGA members at no cost. Memberships for those who are not members of RAGA will still pay a fee to join, and their memberships in VRN will boost VRN page rank helping all VRN members, thereby helping you.

I will post a "starter" listing for you on VRN (something like "Coming soon etc etc ...."). I have greatly simplified the posting process, making it more automatic. I will show you how to post items on your "spot" on VRN in a future email. This will enable you to replace the starter listing with your own specials announcement and to update your listing whenever you wish. (Don't panic, it's easy.) My recommendation is that you post a 'specials' announcement roughly once a month, about a special running for a month or two further out. But you could also post a more generic listing along the lines of "Contact us about seasonal specials blah blah blah"). By the way, a "special" need not be a discounted rate, it could be unexpected availability of a home, or just a featured home ("home of the month"), or a special event in the area that adds value to their vacation stay at that time.

In my future email to you, you will learn why it's a much better idea to post updates from time to time. It's free, it's easy ... so why not. I will also show how your postings can accumulate in an RSS feed dedicated to you without you lifting a finger, how this feed will be presented on the RAGA site, and how you can use this feed to further promote your business.

REPLY REQUESTED -- You can choose to opt out of this feature. Because it is both free and beneficial to you, I will assume that you wish to participate. The next version of the RAGA link block will also include a simple link to VRN if you do not opt out. If you do wish to opt out, you must tell me before I prepare the link blocks for the next update which is planned to occur before year end.

Because the link block system is not very scalable, and because I wish to improve the RAGA page rank to benefit all members, I am adding this Silver class of membership. Silver members will help to improve RAGA page rank but will not participate in the link block system, and they do not benefit from the link blocks. But a text-link posted on their website to RAGA will help RAGA page rank including RAGA destination pages. Alternatively, Silver members may be allowed to pay a monthly fee instead of posting a text-link at my discretion (for example, if their page rank is low and therefore not beneficial to us).

Silver members will not have exclusivity to their destination market, unlike Gold members (you). And Silver memberships will not be offered to vacation rentals providers in your markets such that your exclusivity is preserved. Links to Silver members' websites will not be located on the RAGA home page but will be grouped on a subordinate page. I hope to add a lot of Silver members, over a hundred perhaps. I'll just have to see how it goes.

Going forward, I will not accept new Gold members who are not currently Silver members. I want proof they are willing and able to post links on their home page. Also, they will be required to post a one-time account set-up/administrative fee of $45. (You are not asked to pay that fee, you are "grandfathered in".) In the past, there have been those that did not live up to the promise of posting the link block which has required me to ask you to update your link block to eliminate them.
Should a Gold member drop out of RAGA and later wish to re-join, they will do so by first becoming Silver members and follow the process as outlined above.

I believe these changes will move RAGA to the next level and bring VRN into play further helping all RAGA members. Remember, your membership remains free. If you have any questions, please email me or call me (530-249-4401) asap.