How to Market Your Summer Camp | Summer Camp Marketing | CampMarketingNews.com

Having trouble getting your site ranked highly in the search engines? Then you should try "long tail" keyword marketing -- it's the strategy I use to get my camp's website, AlohaBeachCamp.com, top rankings on the first page of all the top search engines.

As you probably know, keywords are the words or phrases people type into Google and other search engines to find what they're looking for. If the keywords they enter match the content on your site, your website will (hopefully) be displayed.

What are "Long Tail" Keywords?

"Long tail" keywords are keyword phrases comprised of three, four, five or more words, in contrast to much shorter one or two word less descriptive ones (which may be referred to as "short tail" keywords).

For example, "camps" and "summer camps" are "short tail" keywords. Conversely, "Horseback riding summer camps for kids in Atlanta Georgia" are long tail keywords. These types…

All of us want our camps' websites to show up on the first page of Google. Posting classified ads could do the trick. I've learned through trial and error how to get my camp listed on the first page of Google posting ads on Craigslist, OLX and Backpage. You should try it. Here's an article that tells you how. You might find your ad shows on the the first page of the search engines immediately (and I mean within minutes).

As you can imagine I get many marketing questions from camp people. Two of the more common ones are:

What's the single best marketing strategy camps can use?Do you ever speak, and if so, when and where?
As to question #1, I'm sorry to say I don't know it! I wish I did, because marketing our programs would be a whole lot easier if I did. Truth is there really isn't just one marketing strategy you should be using. If you're just using one marketing strategy, and your competitor's using three or four, you're gonna get beat no matter how good yours is. (As I always say, the more lines you have in the ocean, the more fish you'll catch!) So I suggest promoting your camp with as many strategies you can do extremely well, rather than just one "good one" or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, so freaking many that you're spread too thin to do any of them well.

Regarding the second question, I do speak from time-to-time and have offered marketing w…

Here's a great way to get community exposure for your camp, do great things for the environment and make lots of  kids and parents aware of your program: Start and sponsor a recycling program at a local school or sports field. I've been doing this for the past month at my boys' little league field and also did it about 5 years ago when my daughter was playing softball. 
Here's what you do. Contact your local little league, kids basketball league, youth soccer league, public park, or even a local school to form a "green partnership." (The best prospects you'll find are those without recycling programs.)

When you reach them, be sure to say you've noticed they don't have a recycling program, and you'd like to place a few recycling bins (they can be small) at their respective locations. Tell them you'll buy the bins and maintain the recycling program. The only thing you want in return (which you don't even need to tell them) is to put your…

Accumulating relevant links from popular websites to yours is one of the many factors Google and other search engines use to rank your site.

For instance, I run a surf camp, and one of the reasons I've been able to get my site ranked on the first page of Google (without paying for it) is a strategy I use called "link baiting."

Link baiting is any tactic you use to get others to link to your site.

Because big-time players in the surf industry, such as Billabong and Surfline, link to my site, I've been able to get ranked at the top of Google for certain keywords I'm after. (Such as "Los Angeles Summer Camps," for instance).

All it takes is creating online content they (Billabong, Surfline and others) they find useful, then they will link to my site.

You can easily do the same by employing "link baiting" tactics.  Here's a great article on what link bait is, and certain strategies you can use to get more inbound links to your website, too.

As you probably know by now, Pinterest is the new social media rage. Here's how moms are using it.

Just in case you're not a member of our Summer Camp Marketing Tips group on Facebook, I wanted to make this quick post about Groupon, Living Social and all the other social network discount sites. (Our group was discussing this earlier today, so I wanted to make a quick point here.)

I am aware of at least one camp who partnered with Living Social last year. I believe they sold a lot of camp enrollments through the deal, but I don't know if they were happy with the outcome or it was beneficial.

I have personally been approached at least 10 times by Living Social and Groupon over the past 3 years to run promotions with them. I almost took the bait several times, but thankfully backed out at the last minute at least twice.

Truth is, I'm still trying to find business owner (and I know lots of them) who's actually happy they participated in a Groupon or Living Social promotion. A popular pizza place in my area of Los Angeles did a Groupon deal twice last year, but they'…

Hopefully your 2012 summer camp marketing plan is already humming. But if you're behind the 8-ball or only have a limited budget this year, here's 7 things you can plan for, and start doing, right now to get maximum exposure for your camp:
Make sure your website is fully updated for this summer, and change the homepage content (just a slight change is fine) every 10 days or soBlog at least 3 times per weekSet up an active referral program, so every camper registrant refers at least one moreParticipate/Engage/Connect with your customers, prospects and fans in/on at least one social site, and preferably two, such as Facebook, Twitter and Google PlusDon't ignore the time-tested benefits of traditional (offline) marketing, such as direct mail. To that end, conduct at least two direct mail campaigns with postcards. Postcards are cheap, easy to create, and they workSet up your email marketing system with autoresponders, which can help you connect with customers and prospects auto…