If you attended the recent TIANB conference in Caraquet, and listened to Roger Brooks (international tourism guru), then you know what I'm talking about.
Several points made by Mr Brooks, I have been telling you for the past two years. If you had taken the Tourism Technology website mentoring session prior to the conference then little bells should have been going off in your head ... "Beth mentioned the very same thing during her mentoring session"
"I guess she knows what she's talking about"
That's right folks, I'm not just a pretty face.
There's more to the session then the long winded title implies.
70% of tourism shoppers are frustrated with the online experience
80% of operators are still spending more on print, then their website (backwards!)
e-newsletters are essential
user friendly domain names are essential
have seasonal content
have updated content
It's not too late to call me for a session, and at $125, I'm way underpriced.
Beth
PS If you did take the session and haven't done anything yet, dig out that manual and get on it!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Your best home page
Your home page should state clearly, who you are and what you do.
It should relate your core business aspect in a few simple lines. Yes, it can be done.
What are the properties of some of the best home pages?
It's all about knowing your audience. When you surf the web, what pages make you feel tranquil and serene? What pages make you feel adventurous? Why do they invoke these feelings- imagery, colour selection, sounds?
Be upfront and honest about who you are targeting with your website. Grab their attention with imagery and key descriptives that relate to that demographic.
The most simplistic home page could be Google. What is Google's main product? Search. And so what is their home page comprised of? A search box. They haven't changed their core home page since they started. They've added a few buttons off to the side, and they change up their logo every now and then, but the basic core aspect stays the same. And it works for them.
A person who is interested in the latest news, and flashy ads for their home page would be more inclined to choose msn.ca or canoe.ca for their home page rather then Google.
Match your online esthetics to your audience. Your website belongs to your customer not to you!!!
Be totally awesome - not mediocre
Monday, May 4, 2009
The concept of ROBO
More learnings from the Altantic Internet Marketing conference.
ROBO - Research Online, Buy Offline
Some quick ROBO stats:
89% of buyers perform ROBO
81% of Canadians plan to perform ROBO when making their next purchase
50% of local businesses do not have a website...(or an adequate web presence)
ROBO is essentially comparison shopping. In the old days we used to drive around from store to store with a notebook to comparison shop. Or maybe we used newspaper inserts.
Today we do it online - website to website.
And instead of driving to the "shopping"district of town, we use Google to find our results for us.
No matter what your business people are looking for you online.
It's time to embrace your customers where they are. You have your own "hand picked" community out there waiting. Put your product in front of an engaged audience.
So while you may still be getting sales over the telephone, next time ask them if they checked out your website, 8.9 of 10 will have done so before they called - and that's ROBO in action.
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