Name of your website?acarinPortugal.com
Your name?
Mark Harrison
Your Location (city, etc)
Ashford
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Compare all-inclusive rates car hire rates. Book simply and securely on-line. Offices throughout Portugal, Madeira and the Azores. Huge choice of cars from sub-economy to 9-seater people-carriers.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
To provide an excellent and cost-effective service for the travelling public.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
Our first site, wwww.carhirewarehouse.com, was launched in 2001. This brand provides a personal service by phone, e-mail or fax. In 2003 we decided to offer an on-line booking service as well. The first site was www.acarinthesun.com, followed over a period by sites for specific countries under the same branding, hence www.acarinPortugal.com
How did you decide on a name for your website?
The on-line booking was a very different service to that offered by carhirewarehouse so we wanted a different name. Carhirewarehouse organised a lot of the cars used in the populat TV series 'A Place in the Sun' so 'acarinthesun' was a great idea and the domain name was available. We then extended the idea for individual countries.
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
Great rates, good choice of locations, huge range of cars. Pay only a deposit when booking - the rest isn't paid until you collect your car.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
I'm too young to retire and I enjoy what I do too much. There is also considerable potential for expansion. But eventually I will have to consider selling or handing over the reins in some way. But not for a while yet!
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Not well - but getting better. It takes a while to get the message out there but the rewards of time and effort and beginning to show. Nice to see repeat bookings from previous clients so the work is paying off.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
Probably not a lot but it would be nice not to have to worry about a budget so much. Sites need regular up-dating to remian fresh and to keep pace with trends and search engine criteria. Quality internet marketing (not just SEO!) and advertising and promotion. Ultimately it not how much money you spend but how well you spend it.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
As this is an on-line booking site, highly automated, then we probably could. However at some point we may need some extra staff for customer service and admin. issues and maybe an in-house webmaster.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
We have been let-down a couple of times by the providers of booking engines. This has led to unexpected costs involved in changing to another engine, consequential loss of business, etc.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Fending off endless approaches from really bad SEO companies. These are time-consuming and annoying.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Links from web-sites, directories and such like. In our experience the more expensive they are, the less successful they are. The free links and reciprocal links have worked best for us. Easily remembered and relevant domain names are important.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
I tried not to be naive enough to believe that simply having a web-site is enough. But it is different from what I anticipated. More competitive and more time wasted on unwanted approaches from SEO and link companies, advertising sales, problems with booking engines, etc. But there was also contact from many nice people with quality sites to link to, many nice clients and so on.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
AcarinPortugal has been running for 2-3 years but the acarinthesun site, and therefore the brand, has been operating since 2003. There are no signs of problems with popularity, traffic and income so that isn't a question to be considered at the moment. In fact a recent thorough review of our internet presence and activities concluded that we have excellent prospects for future. This is due to relevant and easily remembered domain names, excellent rates and simple and secure on-line booking.
Would I rather be doing something else?
No, absolutely not. This is my hobby as well as my business.
What is your website address?
acarinPortugal.com
