Sustainable Business Model

Sustainable Business Model of Eco Tropical Resorts

September 16, 2016
Eco Tropical Resorts was started in 2003. It has taken me 13 years to create my own business model and much thought has gone into it in the last year.

Here’s some background to show you how this sustainable business model came about. This part might be a little technical, so skip a few paragraphs to get beyond that if you have no interest. I tend to let things evolve on their own. The word came up through the jungle drums that Google, the major search engine, was going to start penalizing websites that didn’t do well on mobile phones. WordPress seemed like a good alternative because it is mobile friendly.

Start the big move to WordPress in 2013. It took a while to get all the work done and suddenly it was 2014 and was finally done. Now it was time to evaluate the new web site.Turns out it’s not optimized for the keywords (the words by which a web site is found through search) that drew in so much traffic. I got busy and created new pages for some of my previous keywords but it has taken a while to build traffic back up.

While this was happening, I realized that I wasn’t comfortable charging new lodges/tours to be on the directory. I started adding free listings and telling lodges/tours that they would not be charged until they started getting traffic. The lodges that have been with me for a while are getting other benefits by listing on Eco Tropical Resorts. To see the benefits go here: Benefits of listing a lodge/tour on Eco Tropical Resorts.

A sustainable Business Model is one where everyone benefits, no harm is caused, and it is self sustainable. This is the direction we’re going. All listings are free until such time as they are receiving enough benefit to warrant paying minimal dues. By approaching it in this manner it becomes a win/win situation.

As usual, please feel free to comment on my post.