1.  John logs into Agent SociaLink and clicks on “Get Started Now” under Build A Blog.

2.  John follows the prompts and fills in the blanks to customize his blog post.

3.   After filling in all the blanks, John hits the “Submit” button to get the fully crafted blog post.  He copies and pastes it over to his Wordpress blog.

4.  Since John has integrated his blog posts to update his Facebook fan page, the post automatically appears on his agency’s wall and an update is sent out to all his Facebook followers.

5.  John is a NexCite customer, so we’ve automatically embedded links within his blog post.  Whether a customer sees his article from his blog or facebook, these links will drive the customer back to the Red Bird Vacations website, where they can contact John to book their next cruise.

We’re still looking forward to hearing all your feedback on Agent SociaLink and can’t wait to hear the stories about all our agents booking travel through their social media marketing!

Contact us for more details on Agent SociaLink and stay tuned for more examples!

Build A Blog Post

Beaverton, Oregon – Passport Online Inc., the Internet marketing solutions company for leisure travel agents and suppliers, today makes Agent SociaLink live. This new content service is designed to help agents populate their travel agent social media sites using a clickable database of content.

Agent SociaLink is a proprietary website designed by Passport’s own marketing, customer service and support teams.  The new tool provides content from a variety of sources allowing agents to pick and choose information to add to social media outlets including Twitter, Blogs and Facebook.

The “Build a  Blog” feature, uses a simple fill in the blank format. Agents can create blogs on specific cruise ships, complete with ship photos and specific information preloaded and customize with their own comments and information.

Subscribers to Agent SociaLink do not have to be users of Passport’s VacationPort or NexCite agent-branded, consumer-facing website programs.  But for VacationPort and NexCite users, content created through Agent SociaLink can also be integrated with VacationPort and NexCite. So those agents who are already Passport Online customers will have links embedded to relevant deals within their system. Consumers will be able to click on those deals and be directed to the agent’s website.

With the Agent SociaLink program participating agents receive:

• Real-time, updated links to online popular travel related articles.  Quickly glance at a list of headlines to find a story that is interesting to you or your clients and with a click of a button you can share that story with all your followers on Twitter or Facebook. 
• “Build a Blog Post” to guide agents through the creation of unique blog posts within minutes.  Simply follow the prompts to craft an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) enhanced blog post, complete with links to corresponding offers on the agency website.  Once the blog post is constructed, click on the button, copy and paste the custom post over to your blog and publish.
• Access to our Supplier Guest Blogs.  These blog posts are provided to Passport Online from our top suppliers in all product categories.  Suppliers will deliver interesting informational blogs which can be customized to use directly on an agency blog or Facebook page.  For Passport Online VacationPort or NexCite customers, links to supplier offers on their agency websites will automatically be embedded within the posts.
• Customer support and training on how to most effectively use these new media channels.

Pricing for existing Passport Online customers is $25 per month. For non-Passport Online customers it is $45 a month. For further information on the new Agent SociaLink product, contact us today at socialink@passportonlineinc.com

Agent testimonials:

“The Build a Blog and Supplier Guest Blogs are outstanding! Fantastic topics to build on easily and most importantly you are able to quickly create new blogs in a short amount of time. Plus the option of choosing a specific supplier to blog on is impressive.  This is a Win!” said Jennifer L. Smith, Branch Manager, Wings Travel Group

 “I enjoy the the product – the ease of use, simplicity of functionality, and the choice of content,” said Dennis Miller, MBA, CEO and Director of Human Resources, DJM Travel & Cruise, Inc. 

 “ I love it.  I don’t have to think about what to post.  I just look at the topics and pick one in the am and maybe one in the pm.  I have had people tag on to some of them and even share one of them.  That was a first.  I like the link back to the web site,”

Joan Follmann, CruisePlanners

Our Focus Group members went straight to work using the SociaLink content to add excitement to their social media networks.  Joan Follmann used our Supplier Guest Blog tool to market Abercrombie & Kent on her blog and Facebook fan page.  Check out the screen shots below to see how she did it!

1.  Joan logs into Agent SociaLink and selects the A&K Guest Blog post.

2.  Joan copies and pastes the article into her own blog.

3.  The post is published to her blog, where it can get picked up by the search engines and viewed by consumers.  She also has her blog importing to her Facebook fan page, where all her followers will see it show up in their news feed.

4.  Since Joan is a Passport Online customer, Agent SociaLink has automatically imbedded links within the article to direct potential customers back to Joan’s website.  From there, they can contact her to book their next A & K vacation.

We’re looking forward to see what our Focus Group members have to say.  If all goes well, we will be launching Agent SociaLink to the public next week.  Stay tuned for updates!

Last week, Co-Founder Randy Goodrich and his lovely wife, Kris, hosted Passport Online’s Summer Barbeque.  Boasting a well-manicured lawn with flowers in full bloom and tomatoes on their way to ripening, the Goodrich’s backyard was the perfect setting to enjoy an afternoon out of the office.

Randy proved his grill skills with his spread of burgers, hot dogs, and veggie burgers.  Casey made us all feel a little guilty after over-indulging in her 7-Layer Dip and brownies.  And Greg Kott made sure all the Chardonnay was safe for us to drink.  Thanks to Passport Online for a fun afternoon, full of good food and even better people!

I’ll let our photos fill in where I left off:

John Starr, Greg Montgomery, Chris Gardner

Randy + Kris' Backyard

Greg White and his Thumb

Tony V, Greg M, Greg W, and Mike S

Party Time

Greg Montgomery and Greg Kott

Chris Gardner and John Starr

2.  Add a “like box” to your website.

3.  Include the Facebook logo and your page’s link in your email signature.

4.  Send out an email to your current email list and invite your customers to join you on facebook.  Tell them what they will receive by becoming a fan.

5.  Add the Facebook logo to all your print marketing. 

6.  Give people an incentive to “like” your page.  Provide great content that’s entertaining and informative.

7.  Let your customers know in person or on the phone that you’re on Facebook.  Tell them about all the exciting news they will hear about first if they are a fan.

8.  Leverage the NexCite Sweepstakes as a contest for Facebook.  Promote a week – month long contest where all of your fans will be entered to win $250 for their next trip.  At the end of the week, send them a message via facebook to your sweepstakes link on your nexcite. 

9.  Use Facebook Events to invite your fans to travel related events (i.e. Sandals Night, Destination Wedding Shows, etc).

10.  Stop selling!  The quickest way to lose your fans is to bombard them on a daily basis with deals.

Please note:  These updates do not impact the consumer shopping and booking features, but will greatly enhance the agent’s experience and efficiency.

What is Fast Sell?

The Fast Sell feature is a way for agents to find and book a product when they already know specific details about that product.  You must know sailing date, number of nights, cruise line, ship, departure airport, and number of passengers to be able to start a Fast Sell.

There is some flexibility if you get the number of nights incorrect, or don’t get the departure date quite right. 

The Fast Sell Process

1.  Start by clicking the Tandem Fast Sell option in the left hand menu.

2.   The Fast Sell screen will appear

3.   Begin to enter the cruise details in order.  Note that you cannot select Ship and City at this point, because those depend on the cruise line you choose:

4.  Once you select a cruise line, the list of ships will be populated.

5.  Continue selecting the ship, departing airport, mode of transport (cruise only or cruise+air), and specify the number of passengers.  All fields in the Cruise Info box are mandatory.  You must select at least one passenger from the three different passenger type drop downs to continue:

6.  Once you have entered values, the system will search for matching sailings.

7.  Matching and similar sailings will be shown in a list:

8.  Click the sailing you want to book to continue to the next step.

9.  Once you have selected the desired sailing, additional options will appear.  Everything from this point on is optional.  If desired, you can select a fare code, category, and a cabin at this point.   You can also pre-fill in all of the passenger information.  The more information you enter, the fewer screens you will have to see during the booking process.

10.  At this point, you will continue working through the Tandem booking flow. 

11.  Fill out payment information as normal, then confirm the booking, and you’re done.

These enhancements are now live and can be seen in the Tandem agent portal. Training documents are being updated and will be available in AgentPort for review this week. Please let us know if you have any questions or need additional training at tandem@passportonlineinc.com, or call the Tandem Help Desk at 503-270-5859.

My recent stay at Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora was everything I had imagined. We arrived at Bora Bora airport and were welcomed with a fresh lei greeting by the staff. After our bags got tagged, we were escorted on board the Four Seasons navigator catamaran. Check in was done in less than 10 minutes. Our Bungalow was 419 on East Pontoon with magnificent views of Mt Otemanu. The staff was at a ratio of 5 per guest and there was always one person asking you if you need anything and always greeting you with La Orana. 

Here’s aerial view of the islands of Bora Bora, French Polynesia. Definitely one of Polynesia’s most beautiful lagoons.  The barrier reef is entirely closed and is drawn in thousands of shapes.

New Website Offers Clickable Database of Social Media Content

Beaverton, Oregon – Passport Online Inc., the Internet marketing solutions company for leisure travel agents and suppliers, today announces Agent SociaLink–a clickable database of content to populate travel agent social media sites.

Agent SociaLink is a proprietary website designed by Passport’s own customer service and support team.  The new tool offers travel agents everything they need to produce successful social media marketing. This new resource will provide content from a variety of sources allowing agents to pick and choose information to add to social media outlets including Twitter, Blogs and Facebook.

“It is our role, as the technology solution provider for thousands of travel agencies and tens of thousands of agents, to support web-based marketing and sales efforts. As our customers began to explore the social media platforms, our customer support team began to build a repository of resources to help these agents succeed,” said Greg Kott, president and CEO of Passport Online Inc. “This new tool is designed to eliminate the time-consuming process of finding or creating interesting content to share. It provides our customers with simple, clickable ways to quickly update their social media platforms with new, exciting informational content that will engage their customers.”

With the Agent SociaLink program participating agents will receive:

• Real-time, updated links to online popular travel related articles.  Quickly glance at a list of headlines to find a story that is interesting to you or your clients and with a click of a button you can share that story with all your followers on Twitter or Facebook . 
• Use our blog post generator to guide you into creating a unique blog within minutes.  With the easy to use, fill-in-the-blank format, you don’t need to wait for creativity to strike.  Simply follow the prompts to craft an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) enhanced blog post, complete with links to corresponding offers on your website.  Once you have constructed your blog post, click on the button, then copy and paste the custom post over to your blog and publish.
• Access to our exclusive Supplier Guest Blogs.  These blog posts are provided to Passport Online from our top suppliers in all product categories.  Suppliers will deliver interesting informational blogs which can be customized to use directly on your agency blog or Facebook page.  Links to supplier offers on your website will automatically be embedded within the posts.  This content will not include promotions, specials or sales but rather entertaining, informational updates from various suppliers.
• Customer support and training — In addition to the content for a successful social marketing campaign, you will also receive customer support and training on how to most effectively use these new media channels.

Our social media training and support includes:

• Passport Online’s travel agent specific Social Media Toolkit.  Read step-by-step instructions on how to set up Facebook, Twitter, and Wordpress blog accounts.  View examples and learn the most important tips on how to use these platforms.
• Live customer support via phone or email.  Contact our dedicated staff with your social media questions M-F 7am PST – 6pm PST.  Facebook won’t answer your phone calls, but we will!
• Monthly social media webinars discussing the latest trends, best practices, and open question and answer session.
• Access to our video library of tutorials, tips, and how-to’s regarding all things social. 

For pricing and further information on the new Agent SociaLink product, contact us today at socialink@passportonlineinc.com

•  Traveling is good for the soul and spirit. If you are ready for your next travel experience, we are here to make it happen.
• Window shopping is fun no matter what you are shopping for! So if today you are shopping for travel, we’re here to tempt your senses and help you dream. And if you want to move from shopping to buying, we’re ready to make your dreams reality.
• Travel is experience. Put our experience to work for you. We have been around the globe. We’ll help make your next trip a life time experience.
• So glad you came here to begin your next travel experience. We love using our expertise to help our customers truly see the world.
• Welcome to our digital travel store. We are so glad to have you exploring the world with us today. We want you to know we have live travel experts ready and waiting to share their experience and create your next vacation. Click around and explore, and we’ll do the rest!

Ramsey, NJ – (June 21, 2010) GOGO Worldwide Vacations, the leading wholesaler of value and amenity-packed vacation packages, exclusively serving travel agencies since 1951 is pleased to announce it has partnered with Passport Online.  This partnership will put GOGO’s extensive product line on the websites of Passport Onlines participating travel agent and consortia member subscribers.   

“GOGO’s only customer is the retail travel agent, and in the past few years we have really focused on innovative marketing programs to drive leads, and our partnership with Passport Online will certainly help us accomplish that”, said Michele Kish, President of GOGO.  “Displaying our extensive product and competitive pricing in front of millions of consumers on travel agent websites every month is sure to drive inquiries to agents who participate in Passport Online’s marketing solutions”, added Kish. 

“We are thrilled to now include the GOGO Worldwide Vacations portfolio of consumer product offerings for our vast travel agency network. Now our agency and consortia clients who work with GOGO can feature GOGO’s products and promotions on their consumer website, within emails and even in their Social Media and search engine marketing efforts,” said Randy Goodrich, Senior Vice President and co-founder of Passport Online. “Our agency clients are getting more aggressive in the area of online marketing, using our programs and with our new Social Media support. We fully expect many will feature GOGO in their blogs, Facebook messages and Tweets, as well as their website and email marketing.”

About GOGO:
Established in 1951, GOGO Worldwide Vacations is a leading wholesaler of value and amenity-packed vacation packages with more than 40 local sales offices, exclusively serving the United States travel agent community.  GOGO offers its 18,000+ travel agent customer’s competitive commissions, comprehensive marketing programs, co-op advertising opportunities and annual learning conferences.  Following its acquisition by Flight Centre Limited in January 2008, GOGO has significantly enhanced the depth and breadth of its product and destination offerings.  www.gogowwv.com 

About Passport Online Inc.
Passport Online Inc. is the emarketing and ecommerce solution provider for the leisure travel industry. Passport Online’s reach via travel agent extranets and travel agency consumer websites includes over 20,000 travel agents and over 4,000 unique consumer-facing travel agency websites. Passport also manages and executes email marketing for travel agencies, reaching an additional 7,500 participating travel agencies, and over 3 million travelers.