Tuesday, November 30, 2004

The Joy of Blogging

So I am at the Eco-North conference in Thunder Bay with about 399 other tourism types when I meet Nancy Arsenault who is just starting an exciting new project at Royal Roads University in Victoria. I am telling her about our CRM initiative and the TourismKeys website when it suddenly occurs to me that Nancy should be blogging her Royal Roads experience!

Luckily, tourism internet marketing guru Todd Lucier (aka Toddles) is sitting next to me. And since he has been bugging me to start blogging at the tourism web workshop blog (yes, this is my first post and it wasn't even a little bit painful) I think, "I will deflect his enthusiasm to Nancy!!"
Well, next thing you know the three of us are out in the hallway at the computer terminals available for Eco-North delegate use, and Todd is giving an impromptu blogging seminar and tutoring session to Nancy and I. It works beautifully! Nancy sets up her Royal Roads blog and is off and blogging within 15 minutes.

They say pictures really tell the story. So, here is the proof that Nancy and I are the latest converts to blogging -- and extremely excited about it!

Bottom line -- check out TourismKeys.ca to find out when Toddles (and Jill Vandal or I) will be in your neighbourhood to share tips and tricks about using the web -- including blogging -- for tourism marketing.

posted by TourGuy @ 11:13 AM   0 comments

Monday, November 29, 2004

Eco-North Kick Off

Saturday morning, Eco-North Delegates got a small taste of what's in store with our traveling road show - Tourism Keys, when I presented "Secret Web Tactics Revealed". The session inspired delegates as they tried their hand at creating a web advertisement for enthusiastic cross country skiers. The short exercise gave attendees a glimpse of the opportunity that awaits in working with nice markets.

Afterwards, Peter Gallagher, an attendee wrote me with a question at the end of his email.
Question: I was checking out your Algonquin web log to better understand the blogging process. I didn’t find the link to Northern Edge Algonquin until I had scrolled through quite a bit of text, as the link is at the bottom of the page. I understand that blogging is intended to be a subtle form of marketing, but is the bottom of the page effective?

Answer: How observant! Indeed it is important to make it easy for blog readers to get to the web content where product lives. Web visitors getting to your site with nothing to buy isn't helpful. In most cases the text of the blog is an opportunity to get visitors to click to specific pages in your site that refer to the subject of the blog. These embedded links are powerful because one assumes the reader is interested in the content and therefore inclined to click through. These targeted links within the blog are your best sales opportunity. However, the sidebar provides an always present opportunity to provide a click through to visitors. I'll take you advice and move this link up on the page.
Thanks, Peter. Hope to see you in Thunder Bay!

posted by Toddles @ 4:12 PM   0 comments

Friday, November 26, 2004

Tourism Web for Workshop Live

I can escape my room at Eco-North. I've put the finishing touches on the web site so that folks can register interest in these upcoming events. Lots to do behind the scenes, but for now I'm pretty happy with the content.
Folks who register will see a little more of the site that is behind the scenes including online payment capability and a needs assessment questionaire.

posted by Toddles @ 6:00 PM   1 comments

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Eco-North Thunder Bay

I'm in Toronto catching a flight to Thunder Bay for the Eco-North Conference. I'm excited to be offering a taste of my passion for expanding the use of the internet to boost regional tourism sales. There will be just a small taste of what's in store for workshop attendees at a 90 minute web workshop. Uploading web sites on high speed internet in my hotel room (a luxury I don't have in South River). I'll be interested to learn how many northerners are in my shoes living on slow dial up. Our flyer is being distributed to over 400 delegates at the Thunder Bay Eco-North Event.

Perhaps D'Arcy and I will come up with some other interesting techniques to letting folks know about these upcoming Tourism Key Events.

posted by Toddles @ 12:42 AM   1 comments

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Tourism Web Workshop site coming along

I've been spending some time getting our tourism web workshop site together at Tourism Keys. My intent is to design the site so visitors will get a sense of fun, lightness, and non-technical expertise that will be required to get the most out of these workshops.
We hope to inspire you with lots of ideas on what kind of web content helps you connect with travellers, how to arrange that content, and of course, how to manage your client relationships once the phone starts ringing and the email starts flowing.
Html coding is important stuff, but not for this workshop. You don't need to be responsible for writing your web site (it helps but isn't necessary). If you make the decisions on what is included on your web site, who your target guests are, how your site is designed, and where and when you spend your marketing dollars this tourism web workshop is for you. Hope you can join us.

posted by Toddles @ 11:40 AM   0 comments

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Have Questions you need answered?

If you have a particular question that you want answered at the workshops, just let us know and we will do our best to answer them!

posted by Jill @ 7:43 PM   0 comments

Friday, November 19, 2004

First Post

We hope to keep the Northern Ontario Tourism industry informed about our progress as we get set to deliver a meaningful, memorable tourism web / customer relationship workshop in regions across the north. For the cost of a good lunch learn the skills that will transform the way you do business on the internet.
We hope to see you there. Stay tuned.

posted by Toddles @ 5:37 PM