Internet Marketing for Tourism

Here is a helpful link for learning the meaning of email related acronyms.

An interesting White Paper has come to my attention regarding the value of effective translation of Tourism Web sites.... thinking about a mulilingual approach to Web marketing your Tourism Business?

Download the pdf at : http://www.wintranslation.com/services/websitetranslation.html

Todd Lucier - TourismClicks.com

I'm in the parking lit at IKEA in Toronto just thinking about retail.

The other day I spent a half hour creating an online store at shopify.com

For 3 percent commission I'm putting blue canoe, our retail store in South River, Ontario, Canada online to the world.

Easy? You bet.

Tool of the trade? A digital camera. If your tourism business has a retail component, try it out.

Heading for home.... sorry for any typos, the keys on this phone are tiny.

Sites like MySpace, YouTube, flickr and Facebook are capturing huge amounts of attention as both sites that people frequent, along with their impact on boosting natural presence within the major engines. In addition to showing up in the natural results of Google, etc., look for contextual ads to begin appearing there in the near future. Another powerful dynamic of these sites is that they generally appeal to a younger demographic.

YAHOO'S PHOTO-SHARING COMMUNITY FLICKR HAS launched several new features to make the site more accessible to non-users, mobile users and those in search of the right camera.

Pluggd (pluggd.com) aims to let people find just the right audio segment within podcasts and videocasts, which can be downloaded and enjoyed on the PC or a portable player. Pluggd is gearing up to launch HearHere, a search tool that lets people type in a keyword and find the portions of podcasts where a chosen topic is discussed.

"It's like Google AdSense for audio and video," says Pluggd CEO Alex Castro. "Since we have the ability to look within the audio and video content and understand the content itself, we can match up advertisers using that information. If you're watching a videocast about travel in Europe, and one segment is about Dubrovnik, we could match up an advertiser who does tours on the Croatian coast."

Dabble (dabble.com) combines video search with social search to let consumers not only find interesting clips but also to keep track of what they've found, so they can watch it again or share it with others. The service, which went live in beta in July, enables consumers to organize videos into playlists, publish the lists, and browse through other people's lists.

edit this

--
Todd Lucier, co-founder of Northern Edge Algonquin Inc.

Phone Toll Free: -EDGE (3343)
Local or Int'l: 01- (during N.A. Business Hours)

Be sure to read our web log to keep in touch with all that's new and natural at the EDGE, http://www.algonquincanada.com/blogger.html or subscribe to the weblog feed at http://www.algonquincanada.com/atom.xml

Top 5 Planned Purchases for Consumers Experiencing Life Events:
Children starting college	Expecting a baby	Getting married
Vacation	Furniture	Furniture
Computer	Vacation	Vacation
Furniture	Computer	Computer
Home Improvement	Car/Truck	TV
Car/Truck	TV	Home Appliances
Getting divorced/separated	Retiring
Vacation	Vacation
Furniture	Computer
Computer	Furniture
TV	Home Improvement
Digital Camera	Home Appliances
Source: BIGresearch, November 2006

Consider developing packages for these life events and bank on the support of appropriately designed keyword pages. Another important life event that motivates travel: Milestone Birthdays - 40, 50, 60, 70 !

Todd Lucier - TourismClicks.com

I've been teaching about social networking and for more than a year I have been trolling the Internet looking for an ideal solution to enhancing our Web presence by creating a space for our community of guests to meet and share with one another.

• I can envision people, working together to develop trip ideas,
• looking for people to join them on a retreat,
• sharing inspiring stories, books, movies, etc.

Do yourself a favour and get started today.... you'll have a social site up and running in 30 minutes!

http://www.wetpaint.com
the name says it all, a site that is always fresh! Go ahead get painting.

See our site at http://www.algonquin.wetpaint.com

Todd Lucier - TourismClicks.com

In this time of social media reviews, consider treating every guest as a media journalist. Indeed, every guest can write influential stories about your tourism business.

Word of Mouth online is getting louder and louder. Indeed, as Chris Anderson, author of the Long Tail has said it, "the ants have megaphones".
Keep on top of what others are saying about you by searching for your tourism business on blog search engines such as does a good job at indexing current blog entries including those on Blogger.com . Searching any of these sites can help you understand what others are writing about your company, competitors and your regional tourism industry.

Respond fast or suffer the consequences. You need to know and be able to react if you're tourism enterprise is challenged with unfavourable reviews or blog posts. Poor reviews in media in the 'old media world' could blow over with time, but online content can last indefinately, and climb to the top of the search engine results. Social Media is forever. Silence implies guilt, and the implication of guilt will lead to even more negative feedback from blogging travelers. There are at least three ways to mitigate such a crisis. One is to engage in continuous search engine optimization so that as many pages of your sites are positioned to boost the credibility of your brand - remember to include credibility builders throughout your site. Second, If negative buzz hits, buy relevant keywords to get your message out.

Third, but most importantly, The best thing to do is ensure your guests have a great time. Survey your guests to ensure you are providing good experiences, rather than wait for the complaints to come to light. If things go awry, react to crisis immediately, before your guests leave if possible and make things right.
Of course the rise of communities online is a great apportunity. Consider creating your own community forum. At Northern Edge Algonquin, we use blogs which are closed to guest members who have been invited. Some tourism businesses use discussion forums for their guests.

Online surveys with your email list are another way of getting anonymous advice from your guests about their likes and dislikes. Ask newsletter recipients for advice on enhancing your tourism services.

However your tourism business reacts to the challenges of social networking remember most people are not contributers, but those who are, know full well the value of this new medium. Bloggers and active online community members are the tastemakers and annointers of the best online travel experience providers. They know how to optimize a negative review of your business so that the search engine finds it.

Travellers search on social media sites, they find social media sites through search engines, and search engines are populated with the social content produced on these sites. Over the long haul, expect the most successful search marketers to be social marketers who optimize their content for for social networks. Perhaps its time for a new term: Social Media Optimization, the steps we need to take to protect our tourism brand in the online marketplace.

Todd Lucier - TourismClicks.com

The debate is over and html beats plain text newsletters hands down.
Newsletters with images, particularly lifestyle images featuring people greatly increase the amount of business generated by email campaigns.

Google claimed 49.6% of all U.S. searches in September, according to new data by Nielsen//NetRatings. Overall, users conducted an estimated 3 billion Google searches in September, up 23% from last year. On Yahoo, searches surged 30% year-over-year--bringing the company's market share to 23.9%. MSN garnered just 519 million searches in September, down 12% from last year. MSN search now commands just 9.2% of the market.

According to ComScore, 29 percent of European Internet users within France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK regularly access the Web from their mobile phones. This compares to only 19 percent in the U.S..
It may seem like a small %, but a few years back we would not have considered designing a Travel Web site that could not be seen by this many Internet users.

The question of the day might be: How do I design my travel Web site to be appealing to Cell Phone Internet users?

Try loading your site in a cell phone and see what your travel site looks like. Is your critical information immediately available? - YOUR PHONE NUMBER for instance?

Think like a traveler looking to find you from the highway? What information would they really hope to see on your site?

Podcasting is hitting its stride as an enhancer of travel experiences. Numerous organizations including tourism destinations and media outlets like the Toronto Star provide mp3 audio files that can be downloaded to a digital audio player like an iPod. Then walking or driving about on vacation the listener is treated to a behind the scenes audio tour.

Imagine the popularity of a destination with saavy travelers who are treated to rich media experiences of the places they are visiting.

Here are a few Podcast portals to consider the possibilities for your travel destination.

www.iJourneys.com

www.soundwalk.com

www.audiosteps.com

www.talkingstreet.com

www.ipodtraveller.net

I sent this web page by simply sending an email from my phone.
Sending images is just as easy.

We've been using Web office for over two years now and it has greatly enhanced our communications, scheduling and more within our tourism business. With multiple locations, and considerable travel on my schedule to deliver workshops it is really nice to be able to have everyone on the same page..... literally.

WebEx Office has recently been featured as a top Internet tool by PC magazine....
Todd Lucier - TourismClicks.com

11/7/06

Hi Todd,
It has been a while since attending tourismkeys, pretty sure I will come to your next one.
Doing some stuff on website, came across the notes on geocities - free web pages.

It says I would need user and password to sign in with this site.
Can you help me with this.
thanks
Peter Wiltmann

Wawanaisa Resort
RR 1 Nobel, Ontario
Your classic family cottage resort on Georgian Bay
Visit for more information:
http://www.wawanaisa.com
Georgian Bay is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve

Hi Peter.
I recommend getting a Web page set up at http://pages.google.com instead of Yahoo's GeoCities.
Although both Yahoo and MSN both offer free web page development tools, I have found Google Pages, (just one of a suite of tools available to Internet users) to be easist to use for first time Web authors.
If using Yahoo's tool, or any of them for that matter, you'll need to set up an account, just fill out the brief forms and you are all set.

I've sent you an invite to Google so you can create an account and get going on their pages tool. This opens a world of opportunity to use cool free tools we'll be teaching about again this winter.

Any readers seeking an invite to Google Account, just drop me a note, I'd be happy to invite you!

ps. Nice tag line on your email Peter, I'd suggest linking your email tag line to info on why the area is a UNESCO reserve?

regards,
todd.





Todd Lucier - TourismClicks.com

The Direct Marketing Assocation recently released its latest Power of Direct economic-impact study last week, and the figures surrounding e-mail were quite amazing. The ROI for e-mail marketing was $57.25 for every dollar spent. For tourism businesses looking to enhance their bottom line, increased spending on e-newsletters is highly recommended.

Todd Lucier - TourismClicks.com