I’m sure everyone knows about the phenomenon that is Facebook! Now one of the worlds most visited websites, it seems that everyone & his dog is facebooking, poking, posting & answering incredibly pointless quizzes! Does anyone in Britain’s offices NOT have a minimised window open for a sneaky look when the boss isn’t around?!

So, when Facebook started taking ads, it seemed only sensible to consider this as a new advertising arena for affiliate marketeers. I originally set up a couple of ads for Cashback Shopper, but these were rejected by Facebook for contravening their terms & conditions / It would appear that because my cashback site contains a section on Gambling sites, it cannot be advertised, presumably due to the Americans laws on internet gambling!!!! Don’t get me started on how ridiculous I think that is!

However, I decided to leave the Facebook ads for a while but placed a few yesterday relating to My Travel Extras.

Facebook ads let you target the ad to a users interests, so I decided to create a separate ad for each product on the site. For example, Theatre Tickets targets “people age 18 and older in the United Kingdom who like Billy Elliot, Buddy Holly, Dirty Dancing, Going To The Theatre, Grease, Hairspray, High School Musical, Les Miserables, The Lion King, London, Lord Of The Rings, Musical Theater, Musical Theatre, Musicals, Nights Out, Oliver, Oliver Twist, Phantom Of The Opera, Restaurants, The Sound Of Music, Theater, Theatre, or Wicked.”

Facebook’s ad creation system is VERY picky about punctuation & proper use of capitals & symbols, so a few mistakes led to repeated rejections & a lot of frustration! However, once you are familiar with what you can & can’t do, it was pretty straightforward to create ads for Theatre Tickets, Car Hire, Theme Park Breaks, London Theatre Breaks, Airport Parking, Airport Hotels, Airport Lounges & Short Breaks.

Initial assessment of the stats shows that click through rates are pretty low compared to what you would be aiming for from Google Adwords or Yahoo Search Marketing, so the jury is still out. The best result so far is from Airport Lounges, with 0.12% click throughs! I’ll give the ads a week to see if they are worth continuing with.

Not wanting to be restricted to just theatre breaks, I decided to try & find a company supplying just theatre tickets, without the hotel stay.

I came across Encore Tickets, a ticket agency for trade clients, including airlines and tour operators needing group bookings, but who also operate Discount Theatre, which offers online booking for all London Musicals and Plays for retail customers.

Encore Tickets also offer a white label solution, which allowed me to build a site complementary to My Travel Extras. I toyed with the idea of incorporating the site in an iframe, but was advised against it & decided to offer it as a standalone site, with links between the two.

The site was set up very quickly & all I had to provide was a title banner image. The site is now live and generating some sales already!

At the My Travel Extras Theatre Ticket Shop you can buy discounted theatre tickets for London shows; we offer London theatre tickets & great money saving theatre packages, including a show ticket and dinner before or after the performance.

SAVE UP TO 50% ON WEST END SHOWS!
We are always looking out for great deals on London’s top theatre shows so that we can pass the savings on to you. From plays to musicals to spectaculars, our variety of offers guarantees something to entertain everyone’s tastes.

DINNER AND A SHOW FOR UP TO LESS THAN THE PRICE OF THE TICKET!
An evening at the theatre wouldn’t be complete without a pre- or post-show meal. We have searched the city to find excellent restaurants and deals to compliment your trip to London’s West End. With a guaranteed reservation at restaurant near the theatre, you won’t have to worry about rushing to the show or missing the opening scene!

What’s On NOW

Never Forget – Top price reduced to £32.50 for May only!

After rave reviews while touring the UK, the much anticipated Take That musical comes to the Savoy Theatre. Top price tickets (normally £49.50) are reduced to £32.50 for midweek May performances only

My Precious…Top Price reduced to £37.50!

Experience The Lord Of The Rings at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and be amazed and astounded by this truly involving musical spectacular! Join Frodo, Sam and Gollum on the journey of a lifetime – get your hands on those ‘precious’ tickets today!

Dirty Dancing – Good May availability

Everyone’s favourite 80′s movie stormed the West End as a live musical version. Re-live Baby and Johnny’s romance on stage, featuring all of the infamous songs from the film.

Summer Has Arrived – Top Price reduced to £37.50!

Join the Von Trapp family in welcoming this heart-warming show’s newest star – Summer Strallen from TV hit series Hollyoaks. You’ll leave the London Palladium with a spring in your step and a smile on your face after seeing this timeless classic on stage.

Joseph

See the star of the show Lee Mead, as he wears the coat of many colours in this fantastic biblical tale.