Retreat Insider

Not long ago a friend reminded me of an article I saw in the Huffington Post concerning practical, “concrete steps individuals could take to help create a better financial system : Move Your Money.” To where? Community Banks. “We need to return to the stable, reliable, people-oriented approach of America’s community banks.” Agree or disagree, the context here is more important than the issue alone: If you’re reading this then you have an interest in the ongoing success and well-being of the Retreat Community.

A similar and equally effective, yet simple one-stepper is replacing the incandescent light bulbs in your home or business place with Energy Star rated fluorescent light bulbs. Another small move with a collective larger return.

Our Evolving Culture at All About Retreats

…with an intention to expand and promote healthy growth, we’ve made a shift in the past 6 months concerning NEW MEMBER listing rates. Those of you who own or manage centers or offer retreat programs who have posted listings in that time frame know who you are. What you may not know is that the long term loyal AAR Membership has contributed to making that opportunity possible. For each of them, All About Retreats has a proven track record of providing a return that is far beyond their investment in our company vis a vis their annual renewal fees.

The present influx of NEW centers and retreat programs is vital to All About Retreats’ ability to continue to supply good referrals to ALL AAR Members, because the more our website offers in variety to our visitors who are meeting planners and group facilitators, the easier AAR is to find in natural searches by NEW WEBSITE VISITORS and RETREAT SEEKERS (our market).

The well-being of people who are Retreat Seekers, is nurtured by a good variety of Retreat Programs now gracing AAR’s Retreat pages. Have a look, if you haven’t done so in the past month or two. Even Retreat Diva gets jazzed by the number of innovative opportunities out there!  They exist to make money, yes, but they are also available to help us catch our breath and find the way forward as the winds of change continue to shift and blow from all directions!

Evaluating our business model and seeing clearly that the way forward could be made clear through a few small, simple changes, we realized that we are fostering a Micro Economy in Retreat World. Prosperity is a shared endeavor and in that are the gifts and blessings that no dollar alone can purchase.

Last Words: Value (added) is something you either grok or you don’t, it seems.

At least once a week, Retreat Diva gets the question … usually in the subject line of an email: “Free Listing?” What accompanies the question is a Request for Listing Info that includes a link to a website that is almost predictably very poor, outdated by modern web standards. A badly designed, out of a box presentation of an enterprise that someone would like to promote. This first impression speaks volumes. For the record, here is the standard Retreat Diva reply:

“Thanks for your inquiry. All About Retreats hosts listings for many centers and programs, all of whom find the means to support the efforts AAR makes on behalf of all of our Members. We wouldn’t think of insulting the trust and loyalty that our customers place in our expertise and All About Retreats when they pay for a listing, which brings them an ROI that creates good fortune and fosters mutual goodwill. Integrity in business is worth so much and comes back in many wonderful ways. Good luck.”

Some thoughts are worth the thinking that follows them.

We use the word “retreat” as noun, as in a place to “retreat” which is then a verb. Not to belabor the syntax, but it seems from where Retreat Diva sits at her computer, talking to people all over the world about retreats, there is a universal perception that “retreat” no matter how it is conveyed is GOOD FOR YOU!

As generations of people have lived and perished on the planet, there are characteristics that define and drive each successive wave of humanity. Baby boomers, known as the “me” generation, have been driven by self-interest, though many have stepped out of the box and are dedicated to elevating the shared experience of life on the planet. Interest in all beings human and otherwise, is ever more the drive as we age into our wisdom years. True?

Times being what they are, Retreat Diva notes an increase in the number of small retreats that are also offering retreat programs from meditation to wellness to green building. Do we “need” to offer these places and programs because we sense that many people are seeking a “cure”  or antidote to the often toxic effects of living in the world as it has come to be … as we each perceive it?

With no further time to muse, Retreat Diva welcomes comment and conversation.  What DO YOU THINK?

Connecting the people of retreats

All About Retreats serves people with three distinct sets of desires:

1. Those of people who seek relief from their life by retreating OR people who wish to learn more about themselves AND how to relate to others in this crazy old world.

2. The dreams and aspirations of people who facilitate or plan retreats, heart-fully certain that what they have to teach is what the folks above are seeking. This group includes meeting planners who are charged with finding the best bang for the buck when they book a center for a meeting, retreat, workshop, or conference.

3. The desires and needs of retreat center or conference center owners and managers who spend most of their waking hours attracting or servicing the folks in #2, so they can have a place to attract or focus the folks in group #1.

Did I miss anyone?

Retreat Diva welcomes your comments on this blog post. She also invites you to Join All About Retreats OR join our Facebook Fan page and tell us how YOU see it! You don’t have to go it alone! Help everyone connect the dots … AAR helps people find each other!

Sooner or later everybody needs someone to cheer them on! How about you?

It happens that plenty of people I meet in passing are happy to return a smile in response to mine.  Not that I am a smiling fool, mind you. But, there is something inside me that wants to connect with folks and I can’t help it.

Sitting at the computer day in and out as we do here at AAR and Feather River Productions, we often feel isolated. Ironically, the internet has evolved to be all about social networking, so AAR has been re-created for easy interactivity, not just for us, but for our website visitors: YOU!

Yep. The All About Retreats website and business has undergone a slow, but important transition in the past 9 months. There were a few setbacks along the way, but  AAR is literally nanoseconds away from realizing it’s propers as THE Retreat and Conference Center Directory (by page and search rankings) on the web. Without belaboring the tech of it, this is what I know:

The most recent AAR website redesign serves THREE primary purposes:

• Make All About Retreats fully interactive so it could expand it’s listing database thereby increasing the volume of it’s offerings to meeting planners
• Re-create each Listing Member’s page as a powerful search friendly entity for relevant keywords on ALL the major search engines
• Create a fresh, visually engaging home page to attract and hold the interest of website visitors, while making their search more streamlined

All the work on the current iteration of AAR is now complete. In fact, technology and our knowledge gained more solid footing, confirming our business choices and affirming the goals we had for the new website. It will now be a matter of time before All About Retreats is among the top 3 for ALL relevant keyword searches on ALL of the major search engines: Google, Yahoo and MSN.

• Each and every listing page is now properly indexed to stand alone as a well optimized one page website for EVERY LISTING MEMBER on All About Retreats.
• All of the supporting pages are likewise search discoverable and page ranks will organically rise like the tide at the full moon!
• Our Members can log in and edit their Center or Wedding listing at will.
• The home page feature real estate is beautifully displayed
• The traffic that does come is increasing and sticks around longer than ever which translates to good quality, highly convertible visitors to each of our Members

Where Do We go From HERE?

Now, more than ever, we want to hear from you. Won’t you please take a moment? All About Retreats is here for you and your business.