Tourism Internet Marketing U

Using Web Data To Your Advantage

All Web servers maintain a history of Web data or log a list of all Web page requests. Once the Web server has logged all of the requests for individual files, requested from a Web site by its’ visitors, it maintains this information in a log file. These log files include the HTML files and their embedded graphic images and any other associated files that get transmitted through the server. This Web data, or log files, can be analyzed by Web traffic analysis tools to generate the following data:

• The number of visitors to your home page and every other page of your site
• Where the visitors came from in terms of their IP addresses
• How many times each page on your Web site was requested
• What time, day of the week, and season people access your site
• Which browser your visitor is using
• Which keywords or phrases your visitors are using to find your site using a search engine
• Which advertisements are viewed the most on your Web site
• Detailed information on visitors and demographics

This might not sound like very important information; however, there are some very amazing things you can do with this data.

Like any good experiment, you must collect the data first, complete the experiment, and then make the recommendations. By analyzing your web data, you can determine the changes necessary to generate better results.

By tracking the visitors on your Web site in terms of where they spend their time, how they came to your site, and if they do what you want them to do, you can fine-tune your Web site to fit the specific needs of your target market.

There is still so much to learn about web traffic analysis. You can catch up on this topic through my new book 101 Ways to Promote Your Tourism Business Web Site. 

- written by Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF

Selecting an Affiliate Program That Is Right for You

To understand the opportunities available, you must first understand the different types of affiliate programs. They all pay for referral business, but in different ways. Before you decide to implement an affiliate program, you must first look at your objectives, your products and services, and your target market, and then decide whether an affiliate program is appropriate for your site. If so, choose the type of program that works for you and your affiliates.

Click-Through Programs:
A click-through program is one in which affiliates receive a fee for every unique visitor who clicks through on the referring link on the affiliate’s Web site or from a link the affiliate has included in a signature file, e-zine article, advertising, or elsewhere.

Click-through programs can serve to increase traffic to your Web site as long as your banner ad, signature file, e-zine article, or whatever method is used to refer is designed with your target market in mind and that element is placed on sites that are of interest to your target market.

Commission-Based Affiliate Programs:
The most common type of affiliate program is commission based. This type offers the referring Web site a percentage of sales income resulting from its referrals. Commissions typically range from 1 to 15 percent.

Flat-Fee Referral Programs:
Flat-fee referral programs pay the owner of a Web site a fixed amount for every new visitor who links from the referring site to the host site and takes certain predefined actions. The required action often is making a purchase on the host site. Some flat-fee programs do not require a purchase; the predetermined actions might be joining its e-club, signing up to receive its e-specials or newsletter, downloading a free demo, ordering a catalogue, requesting a quote, or taking another action desired by the host site.

Commission-based and flat-fee affiliate programs can further encourage the referred visitors to do what you want them to do when they get to your site. The referring site knows that it receives a commission only when a certain action has been taken by the visitor, whether that action be a purchase, a quote request, or something else. The referring site has a vested interest in having the referred visitor take the desired action and is in a position to suggest or recommend that the visitor take that action.

- written by Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF

Book Susan Sweeney, the e-expert, to speak at your upcoming convention or event. Get Susan to critique your web site or to provide distance or on-site consulting. Call today, toll free 888-274-0537, to set up a meeting with Susan to determine which is best for you and your business or send us an email at susan@susansweeney.com.

Podcast Content For Your Travel Or Tourism Business

There are all kinds of content suitable for travel and tourism podcasts – there can be as many podcasts as there are target markets. A few examples include:

• Vacation or cruise planning tips:
  • What to expect upon arrival
  • What to pack
  • Where to stay
  • What to see and do
• Golfing in North Carolina (or your destination)
• Self-guided walking tours. Many destination marketing organizations provide downloadable:
  • Audio walking tours of the area
  • Audio tours of museums
  • Parks tours
  • Art gallery tours
  • Driving directions
  • Tours of particular places of interest
• Industry News
• Suggested itineraries
• Things to see and do in your destination
• Testimonials from your guests

As I mentioned, there are endless topics for your travel and tourism business, just make sure it is relevant to your business, your objectives and your target market.

Want more on Podcasting? Check out my Podcasting and Videocasting webinar on CD! It’s full of great tips, tools, techniques and resources.

- written by Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF

Why Consumer Generated Media is Important

The World Wide Web is host to more than 100 million comments from consumers alone.

Consumer generated media is the fasted growing media online and should be as important to travel and tourism related businesses as it is to other consumers. Listening to and leveraging consumer generated media may well be the most important source of competitive advantage for any travel and tourism company. Studies have shown that when it comes to product information consumers place far more trust in other consumers than they do in manufacturers, marketers and advertisers. By listening to CGM and to what your customers are saying you can gain truthful insights as to how they view your business, products, services and destination.

Consumers consistently rank word-of-mouth as one of the top sources for making purchasing decisions. An eMarketer study found that 65% of consumers trust their friends the most for product recommendations, while 27% trust experts and 8% trust celebrities. It is for this reason and the rapid growth of this trend that it poses both challenges and opportunities for marketing, advertising and public relation teams.

Merrill Lynch, estimates that by 2010 online reservations will account for 45% of all reservations in the travel and tourism industry. With such an increase in online usage, the likelihood of more and more consumer comments being generated online also increases. With more consumers incorporating some form of multi-media, such as photos or videos, to their comments, they are becoming even more persuasive.

There is a whole new world opening up online. Don’t be left behind, check out my latest book 101 Ways to Promote Your Tourism Business Web Site.

- written by Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF

Publicity versus Advertising

Media coverage, or publicity, has a major advantage over paid advertisements. Articles written by a reporter carry more weight with the public than ads do because the media and reporters are seen as unbiased third parties. The public gives travel related articles printed in media publications more credibility than they do paid advertisements. Another advantage of distributing news releases is that it is more cost-effective than advertising. You have to pay for advertising space on a Web site or time on the radio, but the costs of writing and distributing news releases are minimal.

One of the disadvantages of news releases compared to advertising is that you don’t have control over what is published. If the editor decides to cast your company in a negative light, there is nothing you can do to stop him or her. If the writer of the piece does not like your company, for whatever reason, this might come across in the article. Basically, after your news release is distributed, you have no control over what will be written about your business.

It is important to note that when generating publicity, you might lose control over the timing of your release as well. For example, you might want an article released the day before your festival or event, but the editor could relegate it to a date the following week. There is nothing you can do about this. It is not a good idea to rely exclusively on publicity for important or newsworthy events, because if the release is not reviewed or is not considered newsworthy, you might be stuck with no promotion at all.

For more information on Maximizing Media Relations check out my webinar on CD!

- written by Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF

Use Professionals for a Professional Looking Site

Now that you have the storyboard done for your site it is time to get in to the nitty-gritty details of designing your site. Now you need to develop the specific content, text and graphics for each page of your site.

If you want a professional looking Web site then you must get the help of professionals. However, you know your target market  better than anyone. You know what makes them purchase, you know what packages and specials they want, you kow the buzz words for your industry far better than anyone, including your Web developer. Therefore it is important that the first draft of the text, for each page, should be developed by you.

Once you have that first draft done, you want to have it reviewed and edited by an online copywriter. Online copywriters often have a background in PR or advertising, and they know how to get the message across in as few words as possible. Online copywriters know how to grab the reader’s attention and get them to do what it is you want them to do. Internet users don’t want to read pages and pages of text,—they want to get what they’re looking for quickly. Online copywriters know that the text should be short, to the point, and written so it can be easily scanned.

Once the copywriter is done, you want to have the content reviewed and edited by an Internet marketer. Make it clear to the Internet marketer that their job is to review and edit the text and graphics making sure that the keywords are used in the appropriate places for high search engine ranking. The Internet marketer should be responsible for making sure that the keyword(s) assigned to a particular page should be used appropriately in the page title, the text throughout the page, the meta-tags for keyword and description, the headers, the Alt tags, and the comments tags. There is a real science to this so be sure to choose your Internet marketer carefully. Be sure that the Internet marketer you choose has expertise in search engines and their ranking criteria, repeat traffic generators, viral and permission marketing as well as the latest trends in online marketing like podcasts, blogs and interactive maps, etc..

Once you are satisfied with the Internet marketers work, the next step is graphic design. The graphic designer will develop the “look and feel” for your site—the navigation bar, the background, and the separator bars. The graphic designer knows that your online and offline corporate identity should be consistent.

Even though it is important to get the help of professionals, you know your objectives, target market and products and services better than anyone. That is why you must review and approve EVERYTHING. Once the copywriter is finished, review their work, once the Internet marketer is finished, review their work and same goes for the graphic designer. You want to make sure that the substance of your text has stayed the same and only the form has changed. 

Once all this is done, and everything has been reviewed and approved, you are ready for the programming to start. 

There’s still so much more to learn. Get all the right answers with my new book 101 Ways to Promote Your Tourism Business Web Site.

- written by Susan Sweeney, CA, CS, HoF

The Importance of Your E-mail Subject Line

The first thing most people do when they open their e-mail program is start hitting the delete key. They have an abundance of mail in their inbox and they want to get rid of the clutter, so they delete anything that looks like spam or an ad.

How do they determine what is junk? The subject line is usually the deciding factor. It is essential that your e-mail subject line not look like ad copy.

Subject lines should be brief, with the keywords appearing first. The longer the subject line is, the more likely it will not be viewed in its entirety because different people set the viewable subject line space at various widths.

The subject line of your e-mail message is equivalent to a headline in a newspaper in terms of attracting reader attention. When you read a newspaper, you don’t really read it; generally you skim the headlines and read the articles whose headlines grabbed your attention. The same is true with e-mail. Many recipients, especially those who receive a significant number of e-mails daily, skim the subject lines and read only the articles whose subject line grabs their attention. The subject line is the most important part of your e-mail message because this phrase alone determines whether or not the reader will decide to open your e-mail or delete it – never send an e-mail message without a subject line.

Effective subject lines:

• Are brief, yet capture the reader’s interest
• Don’t look like ad copy
• Build business credibility
• Attract attention with action words
• Highlight the most important benefits
• Are always positive
• Put the most important words first.

Effective subject lines should grab the reader’s attention, isolate and qualify your best prospects, and draw your reader into the subheads and the text itself. Avoid SHOUTING! Using CAPITALS in your subject line is the same as SHOUTING AT THE READER! DON’T DO IT!! Stay away from ad copy in your subject lines – it is the kiss of death for an e-mail.

Need to know more about the e-mail advantage? Take a look at my Private Mail List Marketing webinar on CD.

- written by, Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF

Outbound Links and Your Tourism Web Site

As we mentioned in earlier posts, the more inbound links you have to your site, from good quality related sites, the better chance you have of getting to visit your site and get a higher search engine reanking. However, most sites will link to you only if you agree to provide a reciprocal link back to their site.

Not such a big deal, right? Well, having outbound links on your site gives your visitors the opportunity to leave your site with the click of a button. Don’t worry, there are ways to keep your visitors on your site for as long as you can even while offering outbound links.

First of all make sure you place outbound links two or three layers down in your site. Never place outbound links on your home page. You want your visitors to come into your site and see and do everything you want them to before they have the opportunity to go elsewhere.

There are two ways you can provide outbound links. The first is by providing a hypertext link, which transports the visitor from your site to someone else’s with a single click. The second and preferred method is to have each outbound link open a new browser window when clicked. This way your visitors get to see the referred Web site, but when they are finished and close that window, the original browser window with your Web site is still active. The browser window with your site should still be visible on the task bar during their visit to the referred site.

Regularly test all of the links from your site to ensure that they are “live” and are going to the intended locations. Dead links reflect poorly on your site even if they are out of your control.

Want more great tips, tools, techniques and resources? Sign up for my newsletter right here and they’ll come straight to your email!

-written by Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF

The Fundamentals – Defining Your Objectives

Everything related to Internet marketing revolves around three very important things—objectives, target markets, and products or services. It is critically important to define these things appropriately and discuss them with your Web developer.

Today we will discuss defining your objectives.

Before you even start to create your Web site, you must clearly define your online objectives. What is the purpose of your site? Brainstorm with all parts of your organization, from the frontline staff, to marketing and sales personnel, to customer support, to banquet services, to housekeeping, to the bell desk, to the concierge and administration… you get the point – everyone has a different interaction with your customers and therefore should be included in this planning meeting.

Every element of your site should relate back to your objectives. When you decide to update, add, or change any elements on your Web site, examine how these changes relate to the primary and secondary objectives you have identified. If there is not a clear match between your objectives and your intended changes, you might want to reconsider the changes.

Some of the most common primary objectives include:

• Advertising your travel related products, services or destination
• Selling your destination, vacation packages and travel related products or services
• Providing customer service and support
• Providing destination, accommodation, product or corporate information
• Creating and establishing brand identity and brand awareness

Although setting your primary objectives is vital, it is just as important to identify your secondary objectives. By setting appropriate secondary objectives, you will be more prepared to achieve all of your online goals.

Following are some common secondary objectives for travel and tourism organizations to consider:

• Your site should be designed to be search engine friendly
• Your site should be designed to encourage repeat traffic
• Your site should have viral marketing elements that encourage visitors to recommend your destination, packages and vacation specials to others
• Your site should incorporate permission marketing, where visitors are encouraged to give you permission to send them e-mail, newsletters, e-specials, golf packages, etc., on a regular basis
• Your site should be designed to encourage customer loyalty
• Your site should incorporate stickiness, encouraging visitors to stay a while and visit many areas of the site

Whatever your objectives might be, you must carefully consider how best to incorporate elements in your Web site and your Internet marketing strategy to help you achieve them.

Successful marketing on the Web is not a simple undertaking. Before you begin to brainstorm over the objectives of your Web site, be certain you have read and studied all the information that is pertinent to the travel and tourism market. Read everything you can find, and examine the findings of industry experts.

Your Web site objectives form a critical element in your Web site design and development. Be sure to take the time to define them for your travel and tourism business.

Later we`ll discuss defining your target market. In the mean time check out my new book, 101 Ways to Promote Your Tourism Business Web Site.

-Written by, Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF

Leverage the Power of your Affiliate Program

First of all quantity does not equal quality. Go for a few affiliates that are really good at selling your products and/or services. Then supply them with the tools they need to do the best job they can do.

 Here are a few examples of how to go above and beyond for your affiliates:

• Conduct weekly online affiliate meetings to provide affiliates with new materials on a regular basis.
• Go out of your way to help make the links stand out on yuor affiliates’ sites.
• Provide different sized icons that grab visitors’ attention and are designed with  the target market in mind. Prepare the proper HTML coding and tag line.
• Inspect your affiliates’ web sites regularly to determine whether there is anything you can do to help them add value to the links on their pages. Remember though, you dont run their web sites so be diplomatic.
• Offer more advanced tools such as a generic e-mail newsletter that they can easily download, personalize and send out to their mailing list. Remember that this newsletter should be to entice teh affiliates mail list subscribers to visit the affiliate web site and click on the affiliates program link.
• Provide a weekly e-mail to your affiliates with new material, icons, articles, banners, etc., as well as recommended actions to be taken by the affiliates for the coming week.

Of course it is up to you to decide which, if any, of these strategies works best for you and your affiliates. Remember, the goal is to provide your affiliates with the value-added services that will not only strengthen the power of your affiliate program, but also show your affiliates your commitment to seeing them succeed.

Still hungry for more information? Check out my book, 101 Ways to Promote Your Web Site, there is a whole chapter on affiliate marketing.

- written by Susan Sweeney, CA, CSP, HoF
Sign up for Susan’s eClub to receive even more tips, tools, techniques and resources