We talk to Sunshine.co.uk’s Chris Clarkson

by James Agate

We got the chance to ‘meetup’ and learn more about Chris Clarkson, the online entrepreneur and co-founder of Sunshine.co.uk, the low-cost online only travel agent. We got to learn a little more about the man himself, how he got started and a bit of a look at the business itself. Chris also shares a few tips for businesses just starting out in the online space.

What was your first job?

I worked on my local Ice Cream Van when I was about 14

When did you first enter the online space?

In January 2003, I turned 30 and bought a couple of domains from the proceeds of tenners in birthday cards from obscure relatives.

Was holidaywatchdog.com your first business?

Yes.

You worked with Chris Brown on HolidayWatchdog, what was it that he added to the equation and do you think having a business partner is beneficial?

Chris B was already working on HW, it was his idea! We swapped some suggestions on each others work and eventually I offered to help out with HW. Chris B worked in the Travel industry, something I had very little knowledge on. Working as partners with very different skill sets definitely helped us.

What were you doing before you launched HW?

I worked in Instrument Calibration, and continued to do so until the May of 2004 when HW was making enough to allow me to go full time and give up my 9-5 job.

What does an average day usually consist of for you?

Working with sunshine.co.uk and associated sites means no two days are really alike. My current duties include – SEO, liasing with our Content Team, finding writers for our new websites, working with Conversion Rate Experts and our developers amongst many other tasks.

With three daughters, my working day is much more structured now, with no 72 hour coding marathons back when it was just Chris B and I.

Do you work virtually or does Sunshine.co.uk have a dedicated office that you go into each day?

Sunshine.co.uk has an office based in Fleet, Hampshire that’s run by Chris B. All our customer service and administration staff work from there. I work from home in Scotland and would like very much never to work in an office again!

Do you think a business benefits from working virtually?

For me personally it works. All of our developers and content team are based at home, allowing them to be flexible with their time. The lack of distractions of not working in an office makes for an effective working day.

How does Sunshine.co.uk promote itself at the moment?

Mostly via SEO, Affiliate Marketing and now we’re looking to move into PPC.

Can you give any advice to small businesses looking to market themselves online?

Get good advice, from people who aren’t trying to sell you their services. A lot of SME’s seem to pay way over the odds for third rate websites.

Get a good designer. If you do it right your website will see more potential customers than any retail premises you’ll ever own.

I see you have started buying up geo-domains/keyword domains (Sunshine.co.uk are looking for local writers to assist with their new localised domains) do you see this as a smart strategy for other businesses to follow?

Keyword domains are a valuable tool in your online arsenal. Working in travel, geo domains seemed a logical step in increasing our presence online.

Have you seen any effects/business impacts so far from Google Instant?

Having to wade through a mountain of awful articles and blog posts from people who should know better is about the only impact. It’s not that big a deal, move on.

What’s the one biggest SEO mistake you see small businesses make?

Generally thinking that ranking in Google for their business name is important. You really want to rank for the product or service you offer.

Would you consider yourself to be an entrepreneur?

I’ve been called worse.

What makes a successful entrepreneur (key qualities)?

Obsession. Whatever you do it has to be obsessively. Almost every successful business/entrepreneur starts off with a group of people who are obsessive about what they are doing (at the point of being very anti-social!).

Do you believe in education or experience as being a bigger factor for success?

Attitude. Education and experience are just tools that may or may not help.

Would you do anything differently if you could start over with Sunshine.co.uk?

Wow. That’s a good one. We’ve managed to avoid any massive fuck-ups, so nothing major. We’ve had some growing pains as we’ve gotten bigger, so perhaps picking up on these a bit earlier would have been useful.

Do you have any side projects on the go at the moment?

Always. Chris B and I have an investment company Title Tags Ltd, which lets us dabble/invest in other projects. Some are successful some aren’t but it keeps us from going stale!

Do you think it’s important to avoid an “all eggs in one basket scenario” or do you think that some people with online businesses have too many projects on the go?

I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule really. It’s down to the individual and the circumstances.

You write pfft.co.uk, a popular affiliate marketing blog, how important is a blog as part of your personal marketing strategy? Is it more about you as a brand or simply a creative outlet?

I don’t really consider it a personal marketing strategy, it’s just something I come back to now and again, it’s quite cathartic every time I hit publish.

The affiliate marketing industry in the UK is still relatively obscure (in the sense that many consumers would not know what it is) is this a good thing or would we all benefit from a little more exposure?

Try explaining Affilate Marketing to a non-geek friend. Their eyes will generally glaze over after about 30 seconds. I think being involved in the industry you often forget how many “normal” internet users just don’t really care about why a website is there, as long as it’s useful to them.

Do you think the AM industry will continue to grow? If so, what do you think will fuel this growth?

It’ll continue to expand rapidly. It’s a continually evolving industry that involves both blue chip brands and teenagers in their bedrooms looking to make a quid. It’s the purest form of marketing in terms of ROI, as it’s completely measurable compared to any other branch of marketing.