Work with me

Hi! I’m Keith.

Since launching the Velvet Escape travel blog in December 2008, I’ve gained a wealth of experience in creating travel content that reflects the experience, and utilising social media channels for marketing and networking purposes. Velvet Escape is recognised as one of the most influential names in online travel and has worked with tourism boards and travel companies around the world.

Keith in Amsterdam.

Please scroll down to view Velvet Escape stats and facts, parties I’ve worked with, as well as the services I provide.

Velvet Escape stats* & facts

  • Average monthly page views: 30,000+
  • Average monthly unique visitors: 20,000+
  • Alexa rankings (approximate): 180,000+ (worldwide). According to Alexa, VE visitors view an average of 2.6 unique pages per day. Visitors to the site spend approximately 2:18 per visit to the site. For current info, visit Alexa.
  • Audience: The VE blog is read in more than 160 countries. More than 50% of the VE audience resides in the USA, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and India. About 60% of readers are female, highly-educated and belong to the middle- and upper income groups.
  • Velvet Escape has appeared in numerous media, including The New York Times, Mashable, National Geographic Traveler and BBC Travel. Interviews and other media mentions can be found in Media.
  • Velvet Escape has been a Featured Lonely Planet and Visit Britain blogger.
  • Velvet Escape is a multiple award-winning travel blog, with prizes for best blog awarded by amongst others the Costa Brava Tourism Board, Destinology Travel Bloggy Awards and the Canadian Tourism Commission.
  • Velvet Escape has collaborated with the tourism boards of, amongst others, Austria, Great Britain, Jordan, Canada, Catalonia, France, Finland, Valencia, Germany, Costa Brava, Cape Town, South Africa, Latvia, Mauritius, Victoria (Australia), Spain, etc…; and amongst others with Mandarin Oriental Hotels, Four Seasons Hotels, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, etc…

*Stats: sourced from Google Analytics unless otherwise stated – September 2019.

Velvet Escape Services

Blog trips

I have extensive experience in successfully promoting destinations, hotels, tours and restaurants on sponsored blog trips. My contributions to these blog trips include content creation (blog posts, photos and videos), social media marketing and speaking about social media with local businesses.

Me making farata with the locals at Otentic in Mauritius. Guess I was doing a good job, judging by that big smile! (image courtesy of Shivya Nath).

I have been on numerous blog trips around the world including Alberta, Montreal and Nova Scotia in Canada; Cape Town; Finland; Jordan; Costa Brava, Catalonia, Valencia and Asturias in Spain; Emilia Romagna and Tuscany in Italy; South Africa; and many more destinations around the world. My rates are available upon request (via my contact form).

Public Speaking & Seminars

I am also available to speak at conferences or conduct seminars on utilising social media for branding, networking and marketing purposes; travel blogging (branding, monetising, working with travel bloggers); my experiences in promoting destinations via social media and blogging; and inspiration/empowerment and career change. Annual speaking engagements included:

  • WTM London
  • WTM Africa
  • ITB Berlin
  • Social Travel Summit
keith-jenkins-itb-berlin-2012-photo
Presenting the keynote at ITB Berlin 2012 – image courtesy of Melvin Boecher

I also co-founded the Global Bloggers Network which aims to help individual and corporate travel bloggers grow their blogs. GBN currently has 3,000+ members.

Marketing campaigns

iambassador  is an innovative marketing model which effectively harnesses the value that travel bloggers can deliver through their blogs and social networks. The iambassador model involves a collaboration between travel bloggers and tourism boards, tour operators, cruise companies, airlines and/or hotel chains to market a specific destination or travel theme (adventure, cruises, gastronomy, safaris, city trips or beach holidays to name a few). The model is designed to create a social media campaign centred on the destination/theme and increase brand visibility of the sponsors. Visit iambassador for more information.

keith-iambassador-world-travel-awards-2017-photo
iambassador won back-to-back World Travel Awards for ‘Europe’s Leading Marketing Campaign’ in 2017 and 2018. This was the first, in September 2017, for the EuroFoodTrip campaign with Costa Brava Tourism and Emilia-Romagna Tourism.

Should you be interested in any of my Velvet Escape services, if you have a business or sponsorship proposal, or if you are interested in advertising possibilities, please get in touch with me via this contact form.

Thank you!

4 Responses

  • […] Keith Jenkins is available to speak at conferences or conduct seminars on utilising social media for branding, networking and marketing purposes; travel blogging (branding, monetising, working with travel bloggers); his experiences in promoting destinations via social media and blogging. Speaking engagements in 2011 include: Blue Badges tour guides, London, Travel Bloggers Unite, Manchester, Social Media, Girona, Travel Bloggers Unite, Innsbruck, Go Media Canada, Edmonton, World Travel Market, London […]

  • […] This post was Twitted by traveldesigned […]

Comments are closed.

Appeared In