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Added for You - Travel Websites - How to Increase Your Traffic & Sales Guaranteed
Very few people ever think of self-publishing their website or blog content. Yet behind this simple thought lies a secret that has opened the flood gates of traffic for many.I am not suggesting that you go out and publish a book (although this is even a better idea), what I am talking about here is online self-publishing. One of the wonderful things that the World Wide Web has done is turn millions of us into online self-publishers. You see by having a web site or blog, whether you acknowledge it or not, you are already self-publishing.But it gets really powerful when a webmaster or blog owner goes beyond their own site and self-publishes their content elsewhere, in other peoples sites. It becomes even more interesting when they go even further in self-publishing and create an information product from their web content and offer it for sale online. Some smart webmasters are even doing both but using the former to help sell the latter.You see there is an increasing number of websites that accept article submissions relevant to their subject of interest. Not to mention the dozens of high traffic article directories that will accept an article on virtually any subject of interest. The first thing that happens is that you instantly create valuable l
Effective Tourism Marketing Web Sites -Answer Questions and Concerns
When a prospective tourist is considering a destination, in addition to types of regions and activities, they have additional questions and concerns that must be addressed to earn their visit or booking. The same holds true with Out Bound Booking Agents, but even more so.
Some of these travelers questions and concerns include:
Safety precautions and procedures How you are going to protect their safety? Length of vacation Costs Difficulty of trip Travel options to Ulaan Bataar Lodging hotel, camping or Ger Food vegetarian or special restrictions Water Is it safe? Medical emergency/1st aide resources Qualifications of staff Experience level of company Exchange rates & procedures Times of year to visit Group discounts Children minimum age/experience Insurance needs/options Cancellation policy/minimums for departure In-country transportation & equipment Visa re
Search engine optimization or SEO has been around for pretty much as long as search engines have. Over the years, it has gained both proponents and opponents many for good reason. The prevalence of sneaky, underhanded tactics, increasing spam in the search engine indexes, and publicized cases of websites being banned from the listings have given SEO a bad rap."SEO is just about tricking the search engines," some claim.In an effort to de-bunk this and other wayward SEO beliefs, we have developed a list of 'top 5 myths about SEO'.#1 SEO is all about tricking the search engines In actuality, good, honest SEO is not about tricking, but analyzing search engine algorithms in an effort to develop websites in a way that consciously supports search engines in doing their job that is providing the most relevant content to their users. "White hat" SEOers understand that what's good for users is also typically good for search engines, and they strive to not 'trick' search engines, but be forthright in giving them exactly what they want.#2 SEO is all about the meta-tags In a previous life, webmasters would stuff the meta-keyword tag with their desired terms, and voila!, a top spot in the rankings. SEO was about the m
Big Fat Warning
If your travel web site does not have these four primary elements clearly and quickly represented, you are missing opportunities, losing sales and may not survive in the tourism indsutry.
1. Creates a desire to use your tourism services, visit your destination or participate in your unique tourism option
2. Clearly informs prospects of travel and service benefits, options, sites, nature/environment, activities 3. Answer questions and concerns a typical visitor may have
4. Motivates prospects to contact you quickly (not your competitor) for more information, travel options and dates, answer questions and address concerns
If your site achieves all these goals, then the prospects that have visited your site will be more excited, motivated, qualified, informed and much closer to giving you a booking or visiting your country.
What percentage of your total website visitors are converting into solid prospects and sale?
Probably not as much as you would like.
This article is not about web design and layout theory, but why the written word and consumer psychology is a prime factor in influencing arrivals and sales from your travel website.
Create a desire to Visit your destination or travel with your company
Prospective travelers may or may not choose to visit your destination based on what they read on your web site usually just your home page.
Read the article Tourist Safety and Security on Adventure Business Consultants, then youll know how crucial it is to first communicate to prospective travelers that your destination and/or tour is a safe, secure and fun place to visit. With so many global destination choices online and so much international turmoil, you MUST communicate clearly it is a safe and fun destination quickly.
The best place to first communicate safety, security and fun is on your home page, not buried deep in your site. When someone first comes to your web site, you literally have five to twenty seconds to grab their interest and compel them to want to know more about your destination, tours, etc. If you dont grab them on your home page, they are gone. Those prospective tourists are back to surfing the web, seeking out a more interesting, compelling tourism web site and vacation destination.
If you look at your log report, (the statistical report that your internet service provider should make accessible to you) that monitors your web visitors activity, i.e. pages visited, length of time on your site, key words used to find your site, etc., you may notice that the majority of visitors may stay less then a minute. On a poorly written and designed web site, maybe less then fifteen seconds. So grabbing their attention and motivating them to want to know more is the first obstacle and opportunity. Testimonials and photos of happy tourist are perfect for communicating safety and experience quickly. Use them liberally.
Tourism Web Site Must Clearly inform
One of the prime reasons people travel is to experience something different from their ordinary life and location. Active and ecotourists want to learn about new cultures, see different houses, hear and speak a different language, reflect on ancient religions and buildings, marvel at unbroken vistas, or try a new activity. This is exactly what most ecotourism operator and destinations are selling and what you must communicate to your web visitors.
Too many web sites that give web visitors unknown destinations instead of activities or types of regions. Most people surfing your web site are not going to know, for example, what theyll find in Hosgol, Khenti, or the Gobi which are major regions of Mongolia I discovered during two consulting projects I did there for their tourism Association and ministry. You be better off to define what type of regions they are and what they have to offer. Use descriptive words that everyone will understand. For example:
Hosgol Mountains Lakes Fishing Horseback Riding Hiking
Khenti Steppes Rivers Fishing Horseback & Mt. Biking Religious Sites
Gobi Desert Camel Riding Trekking Archeology
You must use descriptive text and compelling words that paint a desirable mental picture.
Summarize your trips in bullets and short headlines and sub- headlines
Use descriptive verbs and compelling words in the body of the text to give substance and details to the headlines and sub-heads.
Effective Tourism Marketing Web Sites -Answer Questions and Concerns
When a prospective tourist is considering a destination, in addition to types of regions and activities, they have additional questions and concerns that must be addressed to earn their visit or booking. The same holds true with Out Bound Booking Agents, but even more so.
Some of these travelers questions and concerns include:
Safety precautions and procedures How you are going to protect their safety? Length of vacation Costs Difficulty of trip Travel options to Ulaan Bataar Lodging hotel, camping or Ger Food vegetarian or special restrictions Water Is it safe? Medical emergency/1st aide resources Qualifications of staff Experience level of company Exchange rates & procedures Times of year to visit Group discounts Children minimum age/experience Insurance needs/options Cancellation policy/minimums for departure In-country transportation & equipment Visa re
I'm sure many of you are familiar with the original ice cream shop that offers you a taste of any flavor ice cream you want before you make your decision on which scoop you are going to enjoy.Giving you a taste (or as many tastes of different flavors as you'd like) is a brilliant way to ensure that you not only order a cone at that moment, but it's also a way to bring you back to try more flavors on another day.You can use this brilliant marketing strategy in building your business, too. Offering your prospects a taste of what it is that you provide is a proven and easy way to get people to become part of your community, and part of your marketing/product funnel (the funnel is the "journey" (that builds a relationship over time) that your clients follow from the first visit to your website, where they enter by giving you their contact information, down through each level as they make their way through each purchasing step in the funnel). By offering them a sample, you're giving them an opportunity to get to know you without risking anything more than perhaps a bit of time.In your marketing/product funnel, the taste you are giving your potential clients is at the top of the funnel, the widest part. The taste is your freebie/complimentary/gift offe
Probably not as much as you would like.
This article is not about web design and layout theory, but why the written word and consumer psychology is a prime factor in influencing arrivals and sales from your travel website.
Create a desire to Visit your destination or travel with your company
Prospective travelers may or may not choose to visit your destination based on what they read on your web site usually just your home page.
Read the article Tourist Safety and Security on Adventure Business Consultants, then youll know how crucial it is to first communicate to prospective travelers that your destination and/or tour is a safe, secure and fun place to visit. With so many global destination choices online and so much international turmoil, you MUST communicate clearly it is a safe and fun destination quickly.
The best place to first communicate safety, security and fun is on your home page, not buried deep in your site. When someone first comes to your web site, you literally have five to twenty seconds to grab their interest and compel them to want to know more about your destination, tours, etc. If you dont grab them on your home page, they are gone. Those prospective tourists are back to surfing the web, seeking out a more interesting, compelling tourism web site and vacation destination.
If you look at your log report, (the statistical report that your internet service provider should make accessible to you) that monitors your web visitors activity, i.e. pages visited, length of time on your site, key words used to find your site, etc., you may notice that the majority of visitors may stay less then a minute. On a poorly written and designed web site, maybe less then fifteen seconds. So grabbing their attention and motivating them to want to know more is the first obstacle and opportunity. Testimonials and photos of happy tourist are perfect for communicating safety and experience quickly. Use them liberally.
Tourism Web Site Must Clearly inform
One of the prime reasons people travel is to experience something different from their ordinary life and location. Active and ecotourists want to learn about new cultures, see different houses, hear and speak a different language, reflect on ancient religions and buildings, marvel at unbroken vistas, or try a new activity. This is exactly what most ecotourism operator and destinations are selling and what you must communicate to your web visitors.
Too many web sites that give web visitors unknown destinations instead of activities or types of regions. Most people surfing your web site are not going to know, for example, what theyll find in Hosgol, Khenti, or the Gobi which are major regions of Mongolia I discovered during two consulting projects I did there for their tourism Association and ministry. You be better off to define what type of regions they are and what they have to offer. Use descriptive words that everyone will understand. For example:
Hosgol Mountains Lakes Fishing Horseback Riding Hiking
Khenti Steppes Rivers Fishing Horseback & Mt. Biking Religious Sites
Gobi Desert Camel Riding Trekking Archeology
You must use descriptive text and compelling words that paint a desirable mental picture.
Summarize your trips in bullets and short headlines and sub- headlines
Use descriptive verbs and compelling words in the body of the text to give substance and details to the headlines and sub-heads.
Effective Tourism Marketing Web Sites -Answer Questions and Concerns
When a prospective tourist is considering a destination, in addition to types of regions and activities, they have additional questions and concerns that must be addressed to earn their visit or booking. The same holds true with Out Bound Booking Agents, but even more so.
Some of these travelers questions and concerns include:
Safety precautions and procedures How you are going to protect their safety? Length of vacation Costs Difficulty of trip Travel options to Ulaan Bataar Lodging hotel, camping or Ger Food vegetarian or special restrictions Water Is it safe? Medical emergency/1st aide resources Qualifications of staff Experience level of company Exchange rates & procedures Times of year to visit Group discounts Children minimum age/experience Insurance needs/options Cancellation policy/minimums for departure In-country transportation & equipment Visa re
The milliondollarhomepage was a great innovative marketing success in 2005. On this site a million pixels were sold to advertisers at a dollar each for five years. Uniqueness saw it become an advertising icon.Since then there have been countless imitations. The cost of pixels has varied and they have emanated from many countries.Anyone can now have a pixel page and maybe hope to make a fortune.There has now been many variations on the pixel marketing idea. Some sites sell space on particular themes so as to assist the advertiser in targetting the market sought. Others have large background images which produce a jigsaw effect, which rather detracts from the advertising! Another has a battleships idea involving the advertising! There is a very good element of raising money for charity on some sites. This is a thoughtful use of this trend.Some sites have reverted to conventional identical blocks. Rather strangely, this is in order to move away from the random patchwork effect of the pixel site! Can't quite see the point!All in all these sites are now so numerous that the concept may have seen its best days. Pixels are now often being offered at "cut price" as most sites are very short of advertising. They do of course advertise
If you look at your log report, (the statistical report that your internet service provider should make accessible to you) that monitors your web visitors activity, i.e. pages visited, length of time on your site, key words used to find your site, etc., you may notice that the majority of visitors may stay less then a minute. On a poorly written and designed web site, maybe less then fifteen seconds. So grabbing their attention and motivating them to want to know more is the first obstacle and opportunity. Testimonials and photos of happy tourist are perfect for communicating safety and experience quickly. Use them liberally.
Tourism Web Site Must Clearly inform
One of the prime reasons people travel is to experience something different from their ordinary life and location. Active and ecotourists want to learn about new cultures, see different houses, hear and speak a different language, reflect on ancient religions and buildings, marvel at unbroken vistas, or try a new activity. This is exactly what most ecotourism operator and destinations are selling and what you must communicate to your web visitors.
Too many web sites that give web visitors unknown destinations instead of activities or types of regions. Most people surfing your web site are not going to know, for example, what theyll find in Hosgol, Khenti, or the Gobi which are major regions of Mongolia I discovered during two consulting projects I did there for their tourism Association and ministry. You be better off to define what type of regions they are and what they have to offer. Use descriptive words that everyone will understand. For example:
Hosgol Mountains Lakes Fishing Horseback Riding Hiking
Khenti Steppes Rivers Fishing Horseback & Mt. Biking Religious Sites
Gobi Desert Camel Riding Trekking Archeology
You must use descriptive text and compelling words that paint a desirable mental picture.
Summarize your trips in bullets and short headlines and sub- headlines
Use descriptive verbs and compelling words in the body of the text to give substance and details to the headlines and sub-heads.
Effective Tourism Marketing Web Sites -Answer Questions and Concerns
When a prospective tourist is considering a destination, in addition to types of regions and activities, they have additional questions and concerns that must be addressed to earn their visit or booking. The same holds true with Out Bound Booking Agents, but even more so.
Some of these travelers questions and concerns include:
Safety precautions and procedures How you are going to protect their safety? Length of vacation Costs Difficulty of trip Travel options to Ulaan Bataar Lodging hotel, camping or Ger Food vegetarian or special restrictions Water Is it safe? Medical emergency/1st aide resources Qualifications of staff Experience level of company Exchange rates & procedures Times of year to visit Group discounts Children minimum age/experience Insurance needs/options Cancellation policy/minimums for departure In-country transportation & equipment Visa re
It doesnt take long to realize that making your web site was the easy part. Now, youll need visitors; you have to get more traffic to your web site. Here are a few suggestions for doing just that.You cant manage what you cant measure. Make sure you have access to your web site statistics. No point in doing all kinds of promotional activities unless you can measure the effect of doing them.Test different web promotional methods. Set up a schedule over the next six months of doing some specific promotions to get more traffic to your web site. Consider trying some of the following:An email promotion that drives responses to your site.Conventional advertising that drives responses to your site.Advertise on the web with banner ads on appropriate sites.Revise the keywords on in your meta tags and your content and resubmit to key search engines.Initially, try each of these things separately in intervals of every six weeks. Carefully monitor your web statistics or web responses for each method. This should give you some idea of what works well and what doesnt. As you come up with new promotional ideas, test them in the same way. Obviously the best strategy is to do more of what works well, and less of what doesn
Too many web sites that give web visitors unknown destinations instead of activities or types of regions. Most people surfing your web site are not going to know, for example, what theyll find in Hosgol, Khenti, or the Gobi which are major regions of Mongolia I discovered during two consulting projects I did there for their tourism Association and ministry. You be better off to define what type of regions they are and what they have to offer. Use descriptive words that everyone will understand. For example:
Hosgol Mountains Lakes Fishing Horseback Riding Hiking
Khenti Steppes Rivers Fishing Horseback & Mt. Biking Religious Sites
Gobi Desert Camel Riding Trekking Archeology
You must use descriptive text and compelling words that paint a desirable mental picture.
Summarize your trips in bullets and short headlines and sub- headlines
Use descriptive verbs and compelling words in the body of the text to give substance and details to the headlines and sub-heads.
Effective Tourism Marketing Web Sites -Answer Questions and Concerns
When a prospective tourist is considering a destination, in addition to types of regions and activities, they have additional questions and concerns that must be addressed to earn their visit or booking. The same holds true with Out Bound Booking Agents, but even more so.
Some of these travelers questions and concerns include:
Safety precautions and procedures How you are going to protect their safety? Length of vacation Costs Difficulty of trip Travel options to Ulaan Bataar Lodging hotel, camping or Ger Food vegetarian or special restrictions Water Is it safe? Medical emergency/1st aide resources Qualifications of staff Experience level of company Exchange rates & procedures Times of year to visit Group discounts Children minimum age/experience Insurance needs/options Cancellation policy/minimums for departure In-country transportation & equipment Visa re
As a professional business Coach, I understand that many people in the business world are pretty hostile towards my industry. Business coaching is seen as a scam by many. You see, business leaders are pretty take charge type of people. They do not really want anyone else to tell them what to do. They do not even really want advice on how to run their businesses.Business coaches like myself like that. We want people to take charge. We want people to feel in control of their lives, and to do what they know they have to. Nonetheless, business coaching can really help them to get the goods. After all, the coaching business is all about results. You can judge how well we do by how well you do.It is an interesting paradox for me. The very same attitude that can really lead to a breakthrough in successes can stop people from being receptive to the message of success. In other words, if you want to succeed you need to be a self driven man. Business coaching can do many things. It can help you to develop your natural skills. It can teach you some things about business that you do not know already. What it can not do is teach you that passion for success. That has to come from within.Nonetheless, business coaching has really changed many people's lives for
Effective Tourism Marketing Web Sites -Answer Questions and Concerns
When a prospective tourist is considering a destination, in addition to types of regions and activities, they have additional questions and concerns that must be addressed to earn their visit or booking. The same holds true with Out Bound Booking Agents, but even more so.
Some of these travelers questions and concerns include:
Safety precautions and procedures How you are going to protect their safety? Length of vacation Costs Difficulty of trip Travel options to Ulaan Bataar Lodging hotel, camping or Ger Food vegetarian or special restrictions Water Is it safe? Medical emergency/1st aide resources Qualifications of staff Experience level of company Exchange rates & procedures Times of year to visit Group discounts Children minimum age/experience Insurance needs/options Cancellation policy/minimums for departure In-country transportation & equipment Visa requirements Inoculations/disease precautions language
One of the best ways to deal with all the typical questions youll get from prospective clients is a Frequently Asked Questions and Answers page FAQs. You should also create a pre-written response E-mail that responds to these questions and more. Testimonials and pictures that address these questions are great too.
Successful Tourism Marketing - Motivates prospects to Buy
Remember that: Marketing is the actions and steps to getting prospective and qualified visitors/clients to call or e-mail you.
Selling is the transference of enthusiasm from you to the prospect.
Sales is getting those prospective visitors/clients to feel comfortable and excited enough about your destination/or trip, to give your money and book a trip.
Your tourism web site quickly communicates that region and your tours:
Are fun, safe and secure on the home and subsequent pages
Effectively answer questions and concerns
Uses a blend of testimonials and images of happy visitors (especially celebrities and/or recognized media)
When prospects call or e-mail, they will far more motivated and excited. If you are excited in your spoken and written words too, then making a sale is ten times easier. If you or a staff member can effectively speak the foreign language of your prospect, can be excited about what you are selling and can ask for the booking, it would be better to schedule a phone call with serious prospects at your expense whenever possible. This will radically increase your odds of converting that web site visitor into a paying client.
Travel Web site Samples and Resources
See the following web sites for good use of testimonials, compelling headlines, layout, photos and descriptive text that clearly informs prospects of travel options, sites, nature, activities, etc. How a site looks is important, but it is the words and how they are expressed, that is most important.
www.BajaTravelVacations.com
www.AdventureBizSuccess.com
www.Alaskadogsledding.com
www.Anotherland.com
www.california-river-rafting.com
www.tightlinesfishing.com
How-to Create Tourism Web Sites that Sell Guaranteed
Here is one of the best resources to help you define and communicate your most important information to prospective visitors and guests. This will motivate them to call, e-mail and give you a booking: Tourism Marketing Success
This special print or E-book will take you step by step through the process and helps you create effective and profitable Tourism marketing communications for brochures web sites, tradeshow booths, advertising, videos and more.
Tourism Web Site Check List for Success
Web sites are a major part of the marketing success strategy used by international tourism promoters.
Prospective travelers may or may not choose to visit your region or use your tour, based on what they read on your web site usually just your home page.
Your web site quickly communicates that your destinations and tours are fun, safe and secure.
Your web site effectively answers questions and concerns.
The best place to first communicate safety, security and fun is on your home page, not buried deep in your site.
You must use descriptive text and compelling words that paint a desirable mental picture.
Summarize your trips in bullets and short headlines and sub-headlines
Use descriptive verbs and compelling words in the body of the text to give substance and details to the headlines and sub-heads.
One of the best ways to deal with all the typical questions youll get from prospective clients is a Frequently Asked Questions and Answers page FAQs.
Dont forget that your web site must show up in the top 1 20 positions of directories and search engines from a relevant key word search. Without this, no matter how well written and laid out your web site is, you will loose out on the majority of prospective clients. See www.AdventureBizSuccess.com for articles on search engine success and more E-marketing strategies for tourism professionals.
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