Internet Marketing for Tourism

According to a current mediapost research brief:  Email return on investment is $45.65 for every dollar spent.  Most marketers (80%) are planning to increase their use of email marketing in 2008 - Are you?

3 Important points from the recent PubCon conference in Las Vegas. The gives some excellent advice. I'll touch on 3 key seo elements in brief:

• name files (both urls and file names like images) with keywords
  
• USE hyphens (dashes) instead of underscores to separate words in a file name. Google doesn't recognize underscores as word separators.
• Got a Question about your Web page rankings? Stop by the the . Google engineers frequent this discussion group and often share tips that can help you if you've got a problem with the way your Web site is being ranked.

Enjoy the entire post by Michael Wyszomierski at:


Todd Lucier - TourismClicks.com

Labels: google seo

A few months back I heard about BC's initiative to report on the scene at BC's Ski Resorts with online reporter interviewing folks at the resort. They put together a pretty good start and posted the video on youtube to get in front of the largest video viewing site online. As well, they invite skiers and boarders to submit their own video to win.

This campaign scores big points for engagement.
Have a gander:

Todd Lucier - TourismClicks.com

Labels: video

I'm reviewing Web sites today and truth be told, I'm a little cranky.

I can't take it any more.... my brain is numb from reading all the text on the Internet.  Sure the Web is a great place to market your business, but here is a little notice to those who haven't been paying attention.

Warning - a little rant follows!

I already spend far too much time online!!  Give me education, entertainment and exclusive value on your Web site.... if it's important info I'll need, give it to me in a PDF so I can print it off and read it the old fashioned way, reclining on my sofa!

Give me great images, powerful headlines and a little multimedia - when I want it!  Don't make it play automatically, I'll decide if I want to listen.  Just because you love it, don't force it on me.

About your logo - get rid of it.  I know you paid a designer big bucks for your logo 10 years ago, but frankly logos are for buildings and letterhead.  Leave it there and leave it off your Web site.  I know who you are, your Web site address is your online logo.  And for those of you still with a splash landing page that says something like click here to enter - Sorry, that's one too many clicks to get to what I'm looking for, it's back to for me.

I'm getting older, make that font larger . . . . Please make the font larger.  Please please please make the font larger.  OK.  sorry about being repetitive.  There is just no way I'm going to read your 10 point font.

I like my feed reader, it makes it much easier to gather the info I want from a variety of sources and view it the way I want to.   Make it easy to subscribe to your feed by providing a button and or the RSS code.  You've seen the little orange icons - use them.  If you aren't sure what a feed is, please see the tutorial on understanding feeds.

It's your content that matters, design is a nice option, but really, let me have the facts.  Use simple clear language that helps me get what I came to your site for.

If you really can meet my needs talk about the Benefits of your product or service to ME!   Use language and words that I am familiar with.  I know your amenities are nice, but just give me a few good reasons why you can meet or exceed what I'm looking for, provide value for my money, and give me assurances that I can depend on you!

I can probably find your product or service elsewhere, let me know I'll get the best value from you and I need to look no further - especially if you have listings in other places online.

If you want me to start a business relationship provide me with easy - every page access to your contact information like phone number and email address.

Hey, I want to engage with me, how about opening the door to a conversation with a Call to Action.  You wouldn't go to a trade show and stand around waiting for people to walk up to you and start a conversation.... engage me with a call to action.  Hey, I know we've got what you are looking for -  Something like: "Call Now, we're here to help you."

I know, I know, you worked with a Webmaster and aren't they supposed to know all this? Unfortunately, there is no one holding out certificates in common sense Web design.  The best people to get design ideas from for your Web site is your ideal customer.  Ask them what they think, allow them to give you honest unbiased info, and listen to them. 

And if you need some design done to your Web site, hire a Web architect, not a Webmaster.  Web architect should understand design, usability, search engine optimization, and more.  They should design your site in good templates that allow you to change or edit content whenever you want to using simple editing programs like Adobe Contribute or a Content Management system.

OK, I'm feeling better now, getting away from the computer now, I've had my say.... what drives you nuts when you visit other people's web sites?

Google Explains why search engines and Web sites use cookies in this short instructive five minute video that answers the question, "What is a Cookie?"

Labels: cookies

Looking to get the most out of your digital camera to grow your tourism business? Get hands-on guidance this April with Rob, Scott a and Louise

Register Today!
Your $25 includes: lunch, manual and a learning experience that will include:

• What makes a great image for selling your tourism business/organization
• Telling your story through imagery
• Using and understanding your digital camera
• Manipulating images using graphic software - the basics
• Images for the media
• Optimizing the use of images on your website
• How to get your images seen
• The emergence of online video for tourism marketing

Visit the Digital Tourist to learn more about this new workshop provided by the Strategic Tourism Development and Marketing Partnership for Northern Ontario.

Tell the team you heard about this workshop on the Tourism Keys Internet Marketing Blog.
Nice Web site Scott!

Labels: digitial camera workshop

Be sure to subscribe to the Internet Marketing Podcast in iTunes.

Labels: Internet Marketing Podcast

Excuse me while I pick my chin up off the floor. Granted, every day there are announcements of the latest and greatest Internet services, but come on, just try to top this"simple Web site editing tool - Typeroom Lite"

I just kept saying, oh my god, oh my god...... I can't believe what I'm seeing.
Now granted, you've been able to do this type of instant Wsywig Web site editing for quite a while with Adobe Contribute. But come on, this is a Web based tool that looks so easy to use you just have to see it to believe it.

Hence, I've popped a little YouTube Video into this post.


Be patient now, it will be a few days until the masses get their crack at this tool, still in early beta, but I'm off to edit Web sites! I can't wait until I get my staff engaged in this simple online Web site editing tool

Todd Lucier - TourismClicks.com

Labels: easy, typeroom, web page editor

Google has always tinkered with how results are shown.  The use of Onebox results which display mapped listings of 1, 2, 3, or 10 local listings is an important consideration for anyone looking for visibility of their business.  Take the time to enhance your listing on Google Maps with keyword and category relevancy and earn reviews!
Have a gander at this which describes some possible considerations to enhance your listing on Google Map search results.  As with most things Google, the actual algorythms are not publicly available, but this article provides informative background on what is likely to be relevant to Google Local users.

Starting a blog opens up a world of opportunity for tourism business including making it super easy to add multimedia like the video below. Of course Internet Marketing workshop attendees quickly learn how easy it is to cut and paste code from Youtube to produce the kind of content below. I recommend most businesses use the free blogger blog to enable some of the advanced features in blogger, which are disabled when hosting your blog on your own domain.

One of the challenges with this sort of blog hosting, is the blogger bar at the top of the screen which sometimes links to inappropriate content or takes your blog visitor away to someone else's blog. View the video below to learn how to remove the blogger bar from your blog.



Todd Lucier - TourismClicks.com

Labels: blogger

While I was posting the Tourism Keys Lessons online, I stumbled across this excellent page at with background info on how to go about crafting your online show for your tourism business.  Includes link to a free blank release form and so much more.  If your business or tourism region is getting into video production.  Start here.

Cindy Bortolotti wrote to request that email subscribers to the blog would appreciate me putting the title of each post into the subject line of the email.
Email:
Website: www.thefashionlodge.com

Hi Cindy, your suggestion is a very good one. I know I'd like to see the subject line for the feeds I subscribe to too! Unfortunately, some days as a blogger I get busy and post multiple items, so Feedburner (the service I use to manage these subscriptions) just makes it easy for everyone by leaving the subject line as the title of the blog feed and sending out one email a day when there may be multiple topics included.

If you'd rather subscribe to the content of this blog and see the subject lines to make it easier to choose which posts to open, I suggest trying out . This service is opened in a web browser and shows the title of each blog post. With this service you can also subscribe to a number of feeds you might be interested in and get all that content in one place. This saves having to sort and file emails too, because the content of any given feed is always available. There are other free feed management tools for the desktop too.

Instead of putting your email address in the sidebar, copy the destination of the orange icon into Google Reader or


Hope this helps.

Todd

One of the best tools around for monitoring and helping grow subscribers to your Blog Feed is to use the free services of

• Get an easy to share feed address
• Use free tools to encourage subscribers to your blog feed (like the orange button and email form at right on our Blog page at /blog.html
• Monitor your blog feed traffic

Then, as often as you post new content, you'll be able to see how many people are looking at your content and clicking through to visit your Web site. Pretty impressive stuff.

. . . oh, and if you are technically inclined, be sure to grab the nifty free gadget like the one below and include one in your email or web page.

Labels: blog, feed, grow, subscriber

There are a number of valuable tools at . One of the quick fixes for your ".com" address is the opportunity to inform Google about your Geographic location. Many top level domains are country specific, such as the dot.ca domain for Canada.
Since Google often optimizes search results based on country, if you do not have a dot.ca, you can inform Google that you are in Canada. That way, when searchers define their search to only deliver search results from within Canada, your Web site will be delivered as a Canadian travel business.

Here is how it looks:


Todd Lucier - TourismClicks.com

Labels: google.com canada

Facebook Social Marketing is easiest to understand when you know how to create an event in Facebook. Nathalie Gara-Boivin, my francophone guiding light in all things Facebook, has created an easy to follow, step by step instructions on creating and posting your first event in Facebook.

.

Benefits of creating an event in Facebook:

• Free marketing
• Free exposure within your existing community of interested members
  
• Easy to send invitations
• See who is coming

Labels: facebook events

This nifty plug-in for Firefox allows you to customize any Google search results page to display results as they would be shown for a search in any country or city around the world.  If your tourism business targets International travellers, you might want to know how well your web site comes up for searches around the world.

The tool is pretty easy to use and has links to add country or city codes to design your own customized Global Searches.

If you use Facebook, you'll be happy to know there is a new group for those interested in Tourism Keys. I hope the new group is used to share information and help tourism businesses continue to enhance their Web sites. Visit the new group at Facebook.

Also, I'm posting the new online lessons at Blip TV and embedding this one into the blog. Here you can see each and every video lesson all at once and the embedded player even lets you watch full screen. If you would like to subscribe to the feed, you'll receive notice as soon as new lessons become available. The new lessons have a feed at

If you have ideas on the kind of things you'd like to learn in the future, .

Enjoy!

Labels: internet marketing lessons

Google Maps has partnered with the Weather Channel to provide weather data on the MyMaps section of Google Maps.  To add the weather layers to your map, click the check box next to The Weather Channel Elements.
One disappointment is that at present these maps can only be shared by sending the link, not by embedding the Map into your Web page.

Here is what the weather looks like near .

Hi Paul & Deb.
Unfortunately, I can't recommend anyone for Web design.... but hosting, I've been quite happy with Quickhost.com
If you can do it yourself... this is the place to host your domain inexpensively.  In practice, most web designers will recommend a web host so that they can make a nice recurring profit from hosting your site....  There really isn't much to it.  See the real costs for hosting at the site.  I've had really timely service and support from these folks.

If I was starting out, I'd try oneandone.com for hosting.... they have some templates for creating a web site using their Content management system.... and if I remember correctly they also have an email newsletter management tool included, looks like a piece of cake from just spending a bit of time playing with it.  Not sure what their customer service record is.

I'm always on the lookout for recommendations.

t.

/blog.html

The last time I looked at the user data for keyword advertising, 1/3 of clicks on search engines were attributed to the paid advertising side of the screen.....
I recently reviewed some data from Hubspot declaring a significantly lower number of clickers on the paid advertising side - only 15%! Interestingly, the site  is dedicated to generating business in helping others achieve organic search results, so the extreme numbers are to be taken with a grain of salt.  I found it very interesting to learn that those who stay on the organic side of the search results are in general much more educated than ad clickers....

Perhaps this is because smarter people, make smarter searches, refining their request to effectively getting better organic search results.... Lazy or intellectually less inclined people search and then try out the paid results in an effort to more quickly get where they want to go.

Interestingly, this likely correlates with the business thinking on Keyword exposure . . . businesses in a hurry to generate business, don't spend the time required to get effective organic ranking and thus resort to paid advertising.....

Learn more about search engine optimization by clicking on the free search engine optimization video lessons.

I'm always reinforcing the need to get release agreements when working with guests of staff and using their images, audio etc online.
Here is a nice little site for finding free versions of such documents that you can edit as you like.

http://www.docstoc.com

This little bit of wisdom comes from the Google Webmaster Blog:

74% of people use search engines to find information when purchasing a product or service from a local business.
Yet millions of businesses don't have websites, and even those that do, don't often engage in search marketing because they lack the time, knowledge or resources.

Wow.... if that kind of info doesn't inspire a small business to learn more about developing a Web presence I don't know what would.

Upcoming Tourism Keys Events Listing.

Online Video is watched/dowloaded by 60% of Internet Users each week according to the latest Horowitz Associates report, Broadband Content and Services 2007.  This is up from 45% in 2006.  News and user-generated, non-professional content are the most often viewed genres, followed by movie previews/trailers, music videos, and previews/segments of TV shows.

So your online video content for your tourism business will be more engaging than a Hollywood blockbuster to your ideal guest!


See the online lessons at /onlinetraining.html

Also on the video front, are you hosting any video at China's http://www.youku.com ?
Use by Chinese is making the site almost as popular as

If you need a video fix today, stop on by the brand-spanking new Tourism Keys online video lessons at /onlinetraining.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/tech/internet/online-brand.html

A nice little article from CBC regarding managing your online persona... a quick easy read.

I'm excited to announce that the new online Free Internet Marketing Lessons are live.

Topics covered include:

• Keywords
• Web Page Basics
  
• Blogging
• Search Engine Optimization
• Understanding Feeds
• Using Feeds
• Blogging (part II)
  

Each session includes a 10-20 minute video tutorial, printable pdf resources and links to free Internet marketing resources.

Whether this is your first exposure to internet marketing training or just a refresher, you are guaranteed to learn something new! 

Please drop me a note to let me know what you think about these free Internet Marketing Video Lessons. 

Thank you to Fednor, Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation for making these resources available to the Tourism Industry.

The title of search engine results is the page title as described in the Meta tag of each page across the board.  Snippets however, the descriptive text associated with each listing is treated a bit differently by each search engine.  Google seems to most often use the meta "description" data -- but will grab a sentence or phrase containing the keyword occasionally or if the description tag is absent, and MSN does the same. Yahoo on the other hand uses the meta "description" tag together with snippets of a sentence containing a keyword or phrase in most cases. Yahoo will also search for a Yahoo Directory listing description - the one the site might have been initially listed with, and all three will use the DMOZ description data if nothing else is available.

So, remember to take the time to write great meta tags, they're your business cards that are used at least in part to generate click throughs to your site from each of the search engine results pages.

Here is my short and sweet summary of advice for the New Year, based on  http://blogs.mediapost.com/search_insider/?p=691

Title development: Develop unique keyword-relevant titles for all relevant site pages -- whether it's 10 or 10,000.  These are the <title> tag elements that appear above the address bar, not the on page Headlines.

Content strategy: How are you going to deliver relevant content to your ideal guest? Consider rounding up all your audio, video, text (pdf's, press releases), image digital assets and identify your resources for securing more of them.

Copywriting and content refresh: Adding one word or phrase in the right place can increase visibility for a particular keyword.   Review one page a week and tweek for a desired keyword phrase.

Find Lost pages: Set up permanent redirects to make it easier for the engines to find the "real" URL in cases where pages have been moved or removed from your site. 

Assess your current search performance: Review and record your current search status for your desired keyword combinations so you can benchmark future performance.

Optimize PDFs: Make your PDF documents search-friendly.

Optimize press releases: Optimize everything!

Link development and directory submission: Understand who links to you with a site like linkpopularity.com, tweak existing links, seek new links, and make sure your site is in important directories, such as DMOZ, Yahoo. Brainstorm how to get people to want to link to your site -- without even asking them. 

Feed submission: Research your existing feeds everywhere you post content online. Develop a strategy for encouraging Feed Subscription as an important call to action and link to search engines.

Analytics: Try out and upload a site map.  See the links in this blog for sitemaps to learn more.

Meta tag development: Spend some time and tweak your site's meta keyword and description tags to be unique and relevant. Remember, Description tags are like your business card.

Make sure your images tell your keyword story: Check those alt tags and make sure you have html content.  Keep flash in perspective.

Conduct research to better understand your target customer: Take time to complete the Keyword Lesson.

Assess your company's strategy for Web page content: Consider revising your site map to have a structure based on what your ideal guest is searching for vs. what you want to say!

Look for the merging of social networking and media creation to be a significant trend over the next few years. 
Read the brief: http://blogs.mediapost.com/research_brief/?p=1609

Spend a few minutes looking at your Web site and counting the Calls to Action.  Then ask yourself, "How am I measuring these actions?"

Did you know that Google, Yahoo and MSN make it easy for you to track the performance of your Web site when using their Search Engine Marketing Tools?  If you are not measuring, you'll have no idea what is working or why.  On the other hand, tracking the performance of your Web site can be done with tools as simple as a pencil and paper sitting beside the phone.

Google demonstrates how to cut and paste the code via a Flash-based video -- including a thorough explanation of what conversions are and why tracking them online is beneficial.

Maximize Exposure of your press release by linking directly to your press release from your -

• Website
• Blog
• Mailing List
• News Letter
• Public Forum
  
• Facebook account or Social Network
  

By using a free press release service like this one, you'll get links to your new online documents and a feed.

Shortcuts to your press release and a Feed for your media room are provided like these:

• HTML Version -
• PDF Version -

Bookmark your press release on your favorite bookmarking website too!
Technorati Blinklist Furl Reddit

Cori, Good stuff.
I'm so excited to hear that you are learning and embracing all the challenge and opportunity that Internet Marketing brings.  I'm sure your members in Northumberland County will reap the rewards.  It takes diligence and effort to learn new things, glad to hear your dedicated commitment is paying off.

Best of luck in the new year,
todd.

ps: Be sure to have a look at some of the new online lessons at /onlinetraining.html

___________________

original note below.

Is Google Favouring New Content? Anyone unfamiliar with Tourism Keys Internet Marketing Training might not know about the importance of recent content, but for those who have visited with me at an Internet Marketing event over the past three years, you already know we're in a content crisis, and we need to commit to creating new content as often as possible.  Ideally you are already creating new content via RSS feeds.

This week, the Big G to Google's search results algorithm: a preference in favoring recent content.

Thanks for the update Gord.  Indeed there are many communities with attractions and icons that are attractive to travellers.... like petting moose in Timmins at Cedar Meadows Resort.  We all need to think like our ideal guest in order to understand the attractiveness of things in our own backyard.

Gord shot a video on his digital compact camera while visiting Timmins this year.  He uploaded it to popular Travel Video Hosting site Travelistic.

Here is Gord's recent note:




--
all the best,
todd


Todd Lucier, co-founder, Northern Edge Algonquin Inc.
http://www.northernedgealgonquin.com
http://www.tourismclicks.com
Toll Free: 800 953-EDGE

Keep in touch with all that's new and natural at the Edge subscribe to our Web log: http://www.algonquincanada.com/blogger.html or subscribe to the weblog feed at http://www.algonquincanada.com/atom.xml

Enhance your Web site with my Tourism Keys Web Log at /blog.html

Free travel research is available from the Ontario Government at:
http://www.tourism.gov.on.ca/english/research/travel_activities/cross-country_skiing_cdn.htm

Information on the Activities and Motivations for travel as well as how and why people travel and the tools they use to plan travel, could make it easy to craft a Web presence that appeals to niche markets.  For instance, did you know that snowshoeing and cross country skiing enthusiasts are more likely than other outdoor active travellers to plan travel online?  You can find out a lot about your ideal guest using the eTAMS study information... it's new and ready to be put to use by your tourism business.

--
all the best,
todd


Todd Lucier, co-founder, Northern Edge Algonquin Inc.
http://www.northernedgealgonquin.com
http://www.tourismclicks.com
Toll Free: 800 953-EDGE

Keep in touch with all that's new and natural at the Edge subscribe to our Web log: http://www.algonquincanada.com/blogger.html or subscribe to the weblog feed at http://www.algonquincanada.com/atom.xml

Enhance your Web site with my Tourism Keys Web Log at /blog.html