The on-line golf-travel magazine www.posh-golf-travel.com has seen its audience figures rocket following its recent re-design
Now seven years old, the site has been attracting upwards of 4,000 visitors per day since it was re-launched with a new look on September 1.
“We had 9,700 hits the day after re-launch,” said publisher Barry Ward, the former travel editor of Golf Monthly, “and I’m anticipating exceeding 120,000 per month by October 1.”
The site made internet history early this year when, under the categories of “golfing holidays + resorts” and “golf travel + resorts”, it was simultaneously ranked number one by all four major search engines: Google, Yahoo, MSNlive and Wanadoo.
“We’ve been number one or two on Google under both categories for two years,” Barry said, “but the grand slam came as a complete surprise. The search engine parameters change from time to time but our rankings have been constantly in the top four on all the major search engines. At one point we were number one of 280 million on Google, which was mind-blowing.
“This week we’re one and two of 3.5 million on Google and tops of 34.5 million on Yahoo, both under “golf travel + resorts.”
But it’s not been accidental said Barry. It’s the consequence of a great deal of hard work and research into the inner machinations of search engines.
The website, which currently has 180 pages, is a reader service magazine which carries reviews and essays on many of the world’s superior golf resorts and destinations. All are Barry’s work: he has visited some 450 destinations in 39 countries since he reviewed his first resort, Pacific Harbor in Fiji, in 1973.
“We’ve added some new sections for the re-launch,” he said, “and we’ve got lots of new ideas to introduce in the coming months. Up-dating is one of the keys to success on the internet and we do that each week.”