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Illustrated Sponsored Links This page isn't indexed by search engines. You were either referred to it by us or clicked over from another page on Best of Sicily. Please read it carefully, especially the following section, where most basic questions are addressed... To avoid possibly wasting your time reading this entire page, let's be very clear: In other words, we do NOT insert business links free of charge, nor do we "exchange" links or "embed" them in content that is ostensibly editorial or informative in nature. You must PAY to be linked from this site by a sponsored link. See the Links Guide for information on this site's "organic" linking policy, and read About Us for information about Best of Sicily's publishing policies in general.
Now let's talk about this site and what it can do for you if you're willing to invest a little money in your advertising – instead of (in the case of most inquiries we receive but hopefully not yours) trying to get it from us for free. If you know anything about search engine optimization (SEO), you know that just being linked from a site – like this one – in the Web's top 1% of popularity gives you high "Trust Rank" with the search engines. That alone may justify spending money for a presence here. Best of Sicily is unique. Really. We're the world's most widely read non-fiction publication about Sicily published in English, and readers love us. Have you ever thought about advertising on the Web? If so, you were probably discouraged by the vague responses you received about readership composition and visitor frequency. These are just fancy web marketing terms for determining who will see your ad and how often, but they reflect facts you should know before investing your advertising dollars or pounds in what is still a relatively new medium. It's amazing how little information most web publishers provide prospective advertisers; if newspaper and magazine publishers acted that way they'd be out of business within six months! On this page, we'll furnish you with lots of information to help you reach an informed decision about advertising with us, and if you need to know more we're just an email away. For detailed editorial information, check out About Us or our Site Faqs page.
Who visits Best of Sicily? Who visits Best of Sicily? They're the internet population's most intelligent people, with most representing the top ten percent in terms of education and intelligence. Let's consider a typical month. In an average month, Best of Sicily has more than 150,000 unique readers (not just "visitors"), making us the most read website on Sicilian travel. (Last year we had more than two million readers; that's more than any Italian regional travel magazine published in hard copy.) We also have a hard-copy publishing program, publishing/sponsoring more titles about Sicily than any other (independent) travel-site publisher. But anybody who knows much about web-based advertising knows that numbers are sometimes misleading. A much more indicative statistic is that about 82 percent of these readers clicked into more than one page of the site. The average reader stays on the site for about four minutes and views three pages during his/her visit. An astounding 22 percent, or one in five, is a returning visitor. For the most part, Best of Sicily's readers are people from English-speaking countries who are seriously considering a visit to Sicily, either with a tour group or "on their own." The vast majority (about 55 percent) are from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. (A precise estimate is impossible because so many sites outside the United States use the top level domain .com, and our statistics are based on domain origin.) The others are from various countries, particularly Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, France and Japan. (Though our text is presented in English, we're indexed by German, Spanish and French language search engines with appropriate key words in those languages.) Most of the world's English speakers speak English as a second language, and we have readers from just about every country in the world. The majority of Best of Sicily's readers are over 25 years old, many are over 45, and quite a few have already been to some other part of Italy on a previous trip, though about 37 percent will visit Sicily as part of a general trip that also includes Rome, Pisa, Florence and Venice, possibly with a day or two in Naples. About 30% will travel in organised groups; fewer than 1 percent will come to Sicily for business or professional reasons, and only about 2 percent speak enough Italian to engage in conversation. An increasing number of visitors to Sicily are Australians or North or South Americans of Sicilian ancestry who want to see the place where their forbears lived, though precise figures on this group are not available. We estimate that about 20 percent of Best of Sicily's readers just happen to surf in because they're searching for general historical, cultural or genealogical information on Sicily, although our site might start them thinking about a vacation in Sicily. This site includes Sicily's only online magazine (published monthly in English), which brings many loyal "repeat" (regular) readers to the site month after month. Unlike most travel sites, which are authored by poorly-informed "travel writers," this one is reliable, something readers appreciate (they tell us so). The reader loyalty associated with Best of Sicily is nothing short of astounding. We respect the readers and they respect us – something that can be said of very few websites But we're not just travel. With so many readers, and an online magazine, Best of Sicily has become a point of reference for anybody interested in any aspect of Sicilian culture – arts, fashion, history, cuisine. An increasing number of readers are people interested in Sicilian culture, even if they don't plan on coming to Sicily. Internationally (i.e. outside Italy and in English),it's the most widely-read Sicilian periodical in the world, dealing with a wide range of topics – culture, history, visual and performing arts, nature, serious social issues. What's the source of the figures we've cited? Our web site traffic statistics are provided by Webalizer, the web site analysis software running on our server, and Google Analytics. These are highly efficient programs which evaluate visits and hits according to various criteria, including referring page, key words, user agents (shown here) and so forth. Additional, reliable data is drawn from Google's placement programs. Information regarding travelers who come to Sicily is drawn from research data collected and analyzed by the Sicilian Region's Council for Tourism, Communications and Transportation (Assessorato del Turismo, delle Communicazioni e dei Trasporti). We have evaluated and correlated information from all three sources to arrive at the figures cited here. Supplementary information is based on Best of Sicily's questionnaire and our extensive email correspondence. We're uniquely placed to obtain certain research information superior to that offered by some government travel services.
What are our readers looking for? Our site's readers are looking for useful information presented in a clear and appealing manner with no public relations hype. The FAQs page, for example, receives more hits than most of the others. Most of our readers click through to several pages within the site, and the number of readers will improve as more people discover Best of Sicily. This is only natural considering the increasing numbers of people with Internet access and the growing number of English speakers who visit Sicily each year. Best of Sicily is listed with all the major English-based search engines, and we usually result with key word searches under such phrases as: Italian travel guides, travel in Sicily, travel+Sicily, travel Italy, Italian travel, Sicily, tours+Sicily, etc. While Best of Sicily makes it clear that we aren't a travel agency, we receive a number of emails each week from people seeking such services and asking us where to find them. This tells us that they might not be finding this information very easily elsewhere on the Web, or perhaps they prefer to obtain it from an unbiased source. Best of Sicily has beautiful photographs and attractive graphics and maps, but it's mostly informative text. Our home page, for example, has more text than that of any other travel site we've seen. That's because we presume that, like you, most of our visitors are intelligent readers. And that's good for advertisers. A manager of one of the hotel reservation firms we work with expressed it well when she said that we bring credibility to a field in which it is generally lacking. How do we compare to other Italian travel and cultural sites? In our opinion, and those of many of our readers (based on their comments), there is no comparison. Best of Sicily is the most complete general travel and cultural guide to Sicily you'll find on the Web, and probably one of the best online travel guides for any region. Our unique index structure makes the detailed pages on Sicily's numerous attractions easy to find, either by location or category. Best of Sicily provides readers with accurate, useful information on these fascinating places, concentrating on the sights and their special atmosphere rather than commercial activities. Satisfied readers have told us that the FAQ page alone is worth a visit to the site. But don't take our word for it! Before you even think about advertising on Best of Sicily, check us out and check out our competition. And talk to our clients, too. The only editorial goal of Best of Sicily is to offer readers the most accurate, practical information available so that they can learn enough about Sicily, even in just a few minutes, to make their trip more enjoyable. We describe sights, services and travel conditions but, unlike most Italian travel sites, we are not a travel agency. Since we don't have a strong editorial viewpoint based on commercial or political motives, there's never any potential conflict of interest. Our staff is not directly involved in the marketing or sale of travel services such as vacations or tours - though some tours are sold (co-branded) under the name Best of Sicily.. To ensure that your advertising will appear in a fair and objective environment, we sometimes reject link ads for very similar services/products on the same page. In general, therefore, we do not link to sites which are in open competition with our advertisers. (See the Links Guide for linking policies.) Our site is clean and attractive (a lot like Amazon and Google), without the commercial clutter you'll find on other travel sites. (You may have noticed that even this page isn't linked from our site directory or navigation bar.) Because we're not affiliated with Sicily's government tourism bureaus or other government-related agencies, we can be more objective. In other words, we're not trying to promote one attraction or locality over another for political or economic reasons. Our most important editorial policy is helping our readers to have a pleasant stay in Sicily and get as much out of their visit as possible --or to help site readers discover Sicily's unique culture and history even if they never make it to Sicily. In terms of quality, Best of Sicily is uniquely placed in this field because, with writers based in Sicily, we have an advantage over foreign based Italian travel sites when it comes to obtaining accurate and current information. we're actually based in Sicily, and we're familiar with Sicilian culture. On a technical note, we have an efficient, fully dedicated Linux-based server, and our pages have reasonably fast download times. What can Best of Sicily do for you? Most of the people who visit Best of Sicily want to visit Sicily. Others have a serious interest in some aspect of Sicilian culture --arts, history, cuisine. If your business involves travel, tourism, arts or even food, Best of Sicily can deliver some serious customers. The majority of visitors to Sicily, and to Best of Sicily, like to see as many sights as possible, usually in a 7-10 day period. This includes major points of cultural interest: Palermo, Cefalù, Taormina, Mount Etna, Syracuse, and Agrigento. So while some younger Northern Europeans come to Sicily during the Summer months for its sunshine and beaches, many folks who visit our site are likely to click over to the sections dedicated to these places of cultural interest. Most of our readers actually read entire pages of Best of Sicily, instead of just briefly skimming over them. That means that they're more likely to notice your ad. Because people who read Best of Sicily are looking for information your link ad is sure to be noticed. Best of Sicily usually places illustrated sponsored links near a relevant section. We'll place your link on a page of your choice. How much will it cost? We offer illustrated link ads, such as those in the navigation bar of this page, for a base price of 490 euros for 12 months with discounts for renewals. This includes ads on 4 pages as space permits (sponsored links are not accepted for the home page).
How do I buy a link? Email us at linkads@bestofsicily.com to begin. How are the mobile sites doing? Best of Sicily Mobile was the first destination guide published, in English, for Sicily designed specifically for cell phones and other mobile devices in 2006. Today, we have special versions of the site's home page and certain other pages for iPhone and Android smartphones - to which you're automatically directed if you're using those devices - but most of our "desktop" pages are actually mobile-friendly and certainly tablet-friendly. With Best of Sicily there's no need to download an app. Complementing the so-called desktop web, the mobile web readership (iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, etc.) is around 10% (in 2011) but growing, and in our case takes advantage of the vast readership and exceptionally high search engine placement of our desktop site. Can I buy a full-page co-sponsored ad? Yes. This service offers the advantage of better search engine rank for the promotion of your service or product, with (where available) "pop-under" visibility via two popular pages of Best of Sicily. View an example of a co-sponsored page for a better idea of what this is. Co-sponsorship presumes that we have carefully reviewed your product or service for consideration prior to accepting the page for publication. This service costs €900 per month, with a minimum term of six months pre-paid. It's not for everybody, but co-sponsorship is a good solution for certain businesses. What's The Bomb?!?! It's an animated banner next to the title (there's one at the top of this page) on around 35 highly-visited pages of this site. This space is only rarely available, but when it is... Look out! This is extremely visible 'shock' advertising at its most effective. What's important is that it works. In one case, for SicilyConcierge.Com, site visits actually doubled the first day the bomb ads were online. Is it worth the investment? Yes, if you want to reach customers in the specific target market that visits our site. If you have any questions, contact us at linkads@bestofsicily.com We look forward to hearing from you! |
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From market to table! 
Beware of sites that exaggerate statistics or just tell you about hits.
Since there's no other Sicilian travel site that's even nearly as complete,
Best of Sicily has no direct competition, but a large web site dedicated
to Italian travel (and published by a travel agency) routinely claims a
"readership" of about 90,000 visitors per month. Even if this
is accurate, visitors interested in Sicily represent only a small fraction
of that number, which includes visitors interested in Tuscany, Rome, Venice
and other regions. What should concern you most as an advertiser is a site's
lack of detailed analysis on precisely who those visitors are. Another
concern is their editorial policy: Is it influenced by commercial factors?
Who sponsors the site? In other words, is the web site just an advertising
tool for one of your potential competitors, such as a large travel agency? Is it
published by a state travel bureau. (We address the important issue of conflict of interest below.)
Who buys sponsored links? Guest farms (agriturismo), hotels, restaurants,
tour operators, wineries, food and wine vendors. Even a vendor of specialized diet programmes and a consultant specialised in family history tours of Sicily.