Your cousin is a web guy?

Today's content borrowed from Digital Daisy

Or your neighbour knows someone who can "do you a web page"?

Or even luckier - your daughter's latest beau can set you up with a Facebook page and a Twitter account. How lucky can you get!

Or not. In this issue - why is this a bad idea?

If there is one particular story that breaks my heart, it is this one. Clients talk to me about a friend or relative who developed their website and then ended up being disappointed.

A second relates scenario that plays out when a web designer fails to deliver, drags his or her feet or is not available for further support.

In both cases the root cause of the problem may be similar.

Was the Scope Clear?
Ask yourself whether the scope of work was clearly defined. Did both parties know EXACTLY what was agreed to and at what cost? Scope creep (like colouring outside the lines) eats into profit - in terms of time and money, leaving two unhappy parties.

In the first scenario you have the added complication of personal relationships that get in the way of making tough business decisions or speaking your truth.


Quacks Don't Cure
You take your health problems to your doctor. Web development and Internet marketing are professional services too - don't take them to a quack - the pain is not going to go away. Pay fair value for fair service. It is investment you make in the health of your marketing.

Here are some suggested questions to ask a web developer before moving forward:

How long have you been in business?
What do you know about my industry? (Super important in Tourism !)
What's included in the design - how many pages, what features, etc.
How much will it cost?
Is hosting included?
How much is it per month - is there a discount if I pay annually?
Is setup included?
I don't have a domain name; can you recommend one and register it for me? How much will it be?
Will the domain be registered in my name? (Insist on this!) How is that billed? How can I register the domain name myself?
How do you like to communicate? By e-mail, phone or in person?
What can I expect in the design process?
How many designs and revisions are allowed for?
How long will all of this take?
What are your terms?
What happens if the scope of the project changes?
What happens if we cannot seem to work together?
At what point is the site considered "done"?
What happens when the work is completed?
Do you have a guarantee?
How will the site be maintained? Do you have a service contract? What is included?
Will there be a construction page posted while the site is being built?
What do you need from me?
How should the content be delivered (via email, disk, hard copy)?
Do you take credit cards?

Get your answers in writing
Ask for and check client references

Programmers are not always people friendly, don't let that deter you from hiring one, just keep it in the back of your mind while going through the interview process.

Twitter and Travel Industry

Note: Content borrowed from and references made to Project Wander as well as Dead Mouse Sandwich

Many operators are asking me about Twitter, what is it? Should I be tweeting?

And the answer is not straight forward.

Twitter is the ability to talk to all your followers with one "text message". Messages in twitter can only be 124 characters. Frankly there's not much you can do on the twitter page itself, twitter requires you install Tweet Deck or some other third party "tweet organizer".

In a nutshell:

It will take some creativity to come up with new and useful 124 character tweets

You have to gain followers (and keep their trust)

And you need to install Tweet Deck

Twitter is not a place where you can just tweet out your specials one right after the other. All your followers will drop you. Applying the dead mouse sandwich principle, you need to wrap tweets about your business with tweets that are interesting and meaningful or retweets.

Twitter is working best in a customer service capacity to some degree for companies like Comcast, or Dell. Celebrities are having fun with Twitter.

It's definitely a time consuming venture.

For our market in Atlantic Canada, your best online bet is still your website, and perhaps a facebook fan page. But definitely your website. It's still your best online impression and close to 50% of Atlantic Canadian travel operations are making a terrible online impression.


Twitter, I wouldn't get my feather ruffled over it.

Women and Information Forwarding

Recently came across these interesting graphs on another blog. The graphs are from PopSugar Media and Radian research and show some relevent information on how Women share information they find on the internet.


Sorted by Gen X and Gen Y, but I want to focus in on what method came in first, second and third.













As I tell all my clients, it's the women in the family who are reseraching holiday travel.
And so what are the top three methods used to discover new products (products would include travel destinations and attractions):

1. referral from an article or newspaper online
2. search engines
3. online ads, whether directly clicked or not

And how do they share this new product or vacation spot with friends:

1. they call them
2. they email them
3. and fairly close together are writing a review and posting on facebook

How can this help us create a better website for Women researching new products and destinations?

1. never underestimate the value of the press, having your establishment reviewed in any online forum will result in natural search engine ranking and hits
2. never stop updating or refreshing your website content and working on maintaining that natural search engine ranking
3. direct clicks are not always the best measure of your online ad campaigns, impressions count
4. nothing will ever replace girl chat
5. email is not dead, and having the "email to a friend feature" on your packages page will come in handy - as well as share this on facebook feature
6. always provide a way for your clients to write a review or provide feedback directly on your website. Women will read other's comments and value that information.
   
   

When you're ready to make your site the best it can be, ask your developer about these features and how to incorporate them into your new website.

For more information, just drop me a line beth@@tianb.com

What's your story?

Been in the biz a while - what better way to let folks know than by sharing that history on your website

Operating your own Bed and Breakfast? Well tell me why and for how long? You're going to tell me when I get there anyways? Why not give me just a little taste on your website?


Did your jam win 1st place at the local agricultural fair?

Got pets? I want to know their names and quirks.



Anything special you do or have MUST be showcased on your website.

• Who lived in the house before you
• Knitted mittens for sale
• Home made soap
• Antique furniture collections
• Dessert of the week, collection of mouth watering photos
• Heated mineral pool and it's benefits
• Ghosts
• Bicycles
• Tire swing

Same philosophy applies if your business is motel, inn, attraction or restaurant.
Call me for the tourism technology one on one mentoring session, I can find your website's hidden potential.

506 451 0173
Beth

Email - still going strong

Today, let's focus on our old pal the email campaign.

Regardless of your industry or size, email marketing should still be playing important roles in your overall marketing strategy. When embracing Facebook and Twitter, let us not forget our friend the monthly email newsletter.

While some social networking sites come and go, email shows no signs of slowing down or becoming obsolete. Email is not a fad. Email, dare I say it, could be here to stay.

What makes email so appealing?

Well if you use a company like Constant Contact or another email manager software then email is completely trackable. You can find out how many of your emails were opened, who clicked on which links, and other useful information.

Email is thusly more accountable then social media.

Consumers more and more are relying on their emails. Even the older generation have emails to keep in touch with Grandchildren who are living at a distance. For the user, it's fairly easy to learn and manage.

Email vendors (such as Constant Contact) are getting better and their software options and tracking are improving. It's low cost, based either on the size of your list, or the number of emails you will be sending in a 30 day period.

Email software programs can personalize your email, Dear Beth Ashton.

You can include basic html and logos

And always include a call to action.

To get you started check out the free version of MailChimp. Upto 300 email addresses, and send up to 10 emails per month.

Email - don't start marketing without it.

What's new with me

Today's post is all about how blogging can be seen as simply talking to friends about what's new in your life.

For some tourism operators in Atlantic Canada, what's new in your life IS what's new in your business.

Take myself in this example... Have I been putting forward the best blogging content over the past two months? Not really and here's the inside scoop. While during the Day I work tirelessly on tourism issues and technologies, at Night I become the Volunteer Director in charge of putting together all the details for the Fredericton edition of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure. The event is the first Sunday in October and gets more time consuming as it gets closer to event date.

Day and Night become blurred, technology posts slide, what I think is more critical work comes first.

Dilemmas? Most certainly.

Should I have been upfront with my followers (all three of you) ?
Should I have even confessed to it today?

My exact situation is a little different from yours... my Day and Night job areas were quite far apart. However if I was organizing the "Giant Tourism Festival", then I should definitely have been blogging about every little detail !! That would be an ideal condition for making time to blog.

But I was doing something unrelated to Tourism. My dilemma being, if I mention upfront that posts are going to be sparser, does that incline you to stop coming by? (oops now down to two followers) Or do you take the break for what it is, a break, and take one yourself?

On the other hand, if I just start posting lame content without any rationale, some might think that I've run out of material and stop following me because they have learned all I have to teach (now down to a single follower, and I think that's my mom...)

Something to think about, and there's no right answer. You have to do what's best for you and your blog.



On a work related note, the Tourism Technology.com program just got it's renewal so I'll be here until 2012 doling out that personal advice. So drop me a line and let me know what technology questions you want to see featured here. beth @@tianb.com


Acutally by 2012 blogs will be so 2009 and we'll just have our memories of these bits and bytes.

Brand properties, Digital spending

Good heavens has it been a month since my last post? Where does the time go?

Today I have a couple of random thoughts for you...

First for the Brand hotel property managers - Internet sales will be key in 2010, and every day your property is being sold on Brand sites and others like travelocity etc. It is YOUR responsibility to check your part of the Brand site. Check it for key words, relevence, images, and attractions. If your brand site says you're next to the Skydome - you're actually next to the Rogers Center - keep your details updated.

Most Brand sites don't allow for a lot of editing but do what you can with the tools you have and make your voice heard at the Corporate level about those changes you can't make on your own.




Second, according to eMarketer, Digital spending is expected to be 17% of total US Ad spending in 2010 creating a tempting slice of pie for Traditional Ad Agencies.

In addtion to these figures, a compelling study is just announced - Internet overtakes television to become the biggest advertising sector in the UK. A record 1.75 billions pounds online spend makes UK the first major economy to spend more on web ads then on TV

Death bells are tolling for traditional media...





Some random thoughts to mull over this Thanksgiving weekend.

Proof is in the numbers

Content stolen/borrowed from http://tourismvc.wordpress.com/ but I don't think Tom will mind :)

Two of Cape Breton’s favorite fall festivals are Hike the Highlands, Sept. 11-20 and Celtic Colours – October 9-17. What makes them unique is they are the forefront with Online marketing and social media. They are starting small and learning along the way..

Dan Coffin, Marketing Co-ordinator, for Celtic Colours, has seen a change in demographics and found social media, e-mail newletter and new media have helped increased visits (20% plus) this year to their website.

Celtic Colours now has over 400 twitter followers, 1100 plus fans on facebook, a promotional video on youtube, a great venue google map and an e-mail marketing newsletter with a goal of 1,500 subscribers.

Coffin states online tickets sales are at 58%, up 4% from last year.

Last year, Hike the Highlands Festival had over 40% of hikers register online and expects this number will increase in 2009.

Facebook ads, Google adwords and e-mail newsletter along with online press releases & regular posts on our blog have keep us busy with new content on the web and attracting hikers to this annual September hiking festival.

“Our website visits in August are up 29% from last year,” says Tom Wilson, Chair, Hike the Highlands Festival. Wilson states we have hikers already registered from British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador and USA.


Both Wilson and Coffin agree that online marketing and social media has helped their festivals grow each year with more communication, online marketing, and user generated content.


Online booking and payment system has made it easier for people to purchase tickets and festival passes

Linked IN

Are you on Link IN? If you are you should friend me, if you're not you should consider it. Linked IN has been around longer then Facebook (I think). It's the business version of Facebook. I've joined up with collegues from work, from past works, and from conferences. I've also joined in some tourism groups and social media groups. Each week Linked In emails me snippets of postings from each group I've joined and I can click to read more or save the email for later. I can also login direct and check out my groups, join new ones, find new business connections.

I recently came across this nice post from the Hotel & Technologies Software group in Linked IN, and thought I would share some of it with you today. If you're doing one new technology thing a month, consider joining Linked In as a business resource.

Later
Beth

Why do hotels have Standard Rooms?

I am surprised by the number of hotels that are still trying to market themselves selling standard rooms. What is so special about that ‘Standard Room’ that it will persuade potential guests to buy? How is one standard room different from a standard room in another hotel? Where has our creativity gone? Have we forgotten that we have to differentiate ourselves from the competition?



I am sure we all agree that asking someone to pay €100 to €200 for something ‘STANDARD’ is not very convincing. It is probably a legacy from hotel GDS systems we are dealing with. Room names are deviated from the GDS room type coding like C2T, B1D or D2C. And how about that double or triple room, doesn’t it sound exciting? How come we are putting occupancy into the name? Doesn’t this get filtered when you put the number of people into the hotel reservation system?



Funny enough hotel meeting and conference rooms have been give some more creative attention. The have been given names of painters like Renoir, Van Gogh, Picasso or Rembrandt. Or city names like Amsterdam, Barcelona and Berlin are being used. But why oh why aren’t we trying to do a better job at positioning our hotel rooms? Don’t we want to sell them and put heads in beds?



You have 30 characters at your disposal in the GDS and about 40 on most hotel booking engines. Use this space! We have been preaching this issue at many of more than 200 hotel training courses over the last 3 years and are happy we have seen some results.



The Hotel de Roode Leeuw in Amsterdam has uses names like ‘Comfort Room and ‘Budget Room’. The Berns Hotel in Stockholm has the following original room types: extra small, small, medium, large, large with balcony and extra large. Qbic Hotels calls their rooms a ‘Cubi’ after their cubicle shape furniture unit.



Most chains start simply at Classic or Deluxe and go up from there. W Hotels uses creative names like ‘Cozy’, ‘Wonderful’, ‘Mega’, ‘Fabulous’, ‘Fantastic’, ‘Cool’, ‘Spectacular’, ‘Marvelous’, ‘Wow’, and ‘Extreme’. I would like to sleep in one for those rooms...



It seems design hotels and boutique hotels have been much more original. Maybe other hotels should simply follow their example. Be different, be daring. Sell experience! A great word by the way. Why not call a room for a hotel in London the Chelsea or Piccadilly Experience? Simple, right? And why not call multiple occupancy rooms, Family Room? In the end that is the target market, right? Remember if you stand out, you will more likely to be chosen.



Differentiate yourself, not only on your hotel website, but also on OTA’s and GDS. Hopefully in a few weeks we will see those standard rooms replaced by some more appetizing and exciting names.



For more ideas and tips from Xotels visit our blog: http://www.xotels.com/en/blog



Cheers, Patrick Landman - Xotels

Top Tourism Websites

Today we provide you with a link to Vandelay Designs, and what they consider the top travel websites.

http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/galleries/travel/

Some are government, some are hotels, but they are all excellent examples of what a travel/tourism site should look like.

You'll notice about halfway through, Signature Attractions, Explore the best of Atlantic Canada!


Congrats guys on making the list.

Another Tourism Technology mentoring success story.