Why we’re taking our online marketing services to Dahab, Egypt

It’s only mid January and we already have plenty of projects in the pipeline.

I’ve also announced on our Facebook page that I’ll be basing myself in Dahab, South Sinai for the month of March. This is with a view to helping out local businesses there with web design, web development and social media marketing, as well as servicing our loyal UK clients as normal.

Dahab (دهب) is a small town situated on the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Formerly a Bedouin fishing village, it’s located approximately 80 km northeast of Sharm el-Sheikh. Dahab enjoys large numbers of tourists and is world-renowned for its windsurfing, SCUBA diving and snorkelling.

I arrived there on New Year’s Eve 2010 to escape the snow for a week. I had a lovely break and tried out as many activities as possible, including a fantastic desert trip, quad biking, and horse riding, but I also met various local business owners whilst I was out and about.

When the popular question “what do you do for a living” came up, many of them were interested to hear that I was a web consultant and asked if I could assist them. Dahab, like many other tourist resorts, is still learning the ropes of social media and online marketing.

I ended up coaching two people – a hotel owner and an adventure travel company – how to make the most of Twitter from a tourism angle. And their requests didn’t end there. Both were keen for me to come back and help them further with a new website, a potential film, and general marketing assistance.

Mohamed Khames from Momo Travel learns to tweetIt was then that I decided to return to Dahab for one month to see if I could provide my services to more of the tourism industry so vital to the town’s economy. As manage my website is an online business, location really isn’t an issue for us. The majority of our clients are happy to communicate via email, telephone and Skype on a day-to-day basis so our service to them would be exactly the same from Egypt (there’s only a two hour time difference).

I’ll be in Dahab from 28 February to 28 March and am hugely excited at the prospect of working with the businesses over there as well as seeing more of this beautiful country.

Our youngest customers to date?Our current projects at home include the launch of Mimi Noor’s designer denim website, plus new websites for Village Green Soaps, Bettylicious women’s clothing, a children’s clothing and accessory retailer and the Centre For Better Health in Hackney. With other work that includes SEO article writing, “ghost tweeting” and PR assistance, it looks as though 2011 will be a very busy year!

If you run a business in Dahab, the UK, or anywhere else in the world and would like to enquire about our services, please get in touch for an informal chat.

If you’re thinking of taking a holiday in Dahab, I can heartily recommend the following businesses as well as a delicious hot drink called Sahlab:

The Star of Dahab Hotel
Shams Hotel
Shams Restaurant
Funny Mummy Restaurant
Momo Travel

The delicious (and filling!) Sahlab drink

If you enjoyed reading this article, I’d appreciate it if you clicked “like” at the top of the page. For an informal chat about our services, please get in touch.


Update on Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 6:14PM by Alex Astell

Picture taken from the BBC website

In light of current events in Egypt (today being the sixth day of anti-government protests), my trip to Dahab has now been cast into doubt. I do, however, have every intention of returning there if the situation has settled down, with internet and phone communications restored.

Disturbingly Sharm El Sheikh, which is only 80km south of Dahab is now barricading its hotels in an effort to protect tourists.

The BBC reports that, "the unrest in Egypt follows an uprising in Tunisia two weeks ago which toppled President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali after 23 years in power. The Tunisian upheaval began with anger over rising food prices, high unemployment and anger at official corruption - problems which have also left many people in Egypt feeling frustrated and resentful of their leadership.

"Clashes are reported to have left at least 100 people dead since rallies began on Tuesday in cities including Cairo, Suez and Alexandria. Thousands have been injured."

Initially, major social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were blocked across the country. But now not only have internet connections across Egypt been cut to reduce the chance of further organised mass protests against President Mubarak, but also most landlines and mobile networks are not allowing outgoing communications.

Click here for tweets with the #Jan25 reference if you'd like to read about what's happening in Egypt at the moment.

My thoughts and prayers are with the many fascinating people I met on my holiday to Dahab, and their relatives in the major cities. I've telephoned some of them today to let them know what we've been hearing and seeing here in the UK, and they remain positive. I hope to see them again very soon.

If you enjoyed reading this article, I’d appreciate it if you clicked “like” at the top of the page. For an informal chat about our services, please get in touch.


Comments

[Claire Jarrett]

Fantastic - what a great way to combine work and leisure time! I am sure you will have a GREAT time and be hugely useful to many local businesses out there

[Alex Astell]

Thanks Claire - I certainly hope so! I'm looking forward to a change of scenery for a month and meetings are definitely more relaxed over there!

[Ali Brain]

Very jealous, but equally extremely happy for you Allie. I am sure you will be as much a roaring success in Egypt as you are here, and be able to keep clients more than happy with your expert guidance and work wherever you are based. I know which view I would prefer to see looking up from my laptop!

[Alex Astell]

Thanks Ali. You're very welcome to come and join me to manage the events side of things from over there!