This article was written while I was on holiday in California and was inspired by the many great travel businesses I encountered throughout America.

When creating a website within the tourism industry it’s important to keep a strong focus on the needs of travellers. The website ideaologies applying to travel also apply to a broad number of websites selling single products online.

It is much easier to maintain this focus if you have a clear idea of your target demographic. Many businesses fall into the trap of believing anyone can stay in their hotel, or take their tour, but the reality is each product will only appeal to a subset of the travellers visiting any region.

Tourism providers who’ve been in the industry for some time will tell you that the internet dramatically changed the booking habits of travellers and it’s important to realise why this is so.

Why A Traveller Uses the Web

The primary reason a traveller will visit your website is to gather information about tourism product. This means more information then the brochure displays or a travel agent might know. Travellers are frequently disappointed when a website contains scant information or fails to answer even their most basic questions.

Essential Website Parts

For a traveller the most important page of a website is your home page. Research suggests most people will visit at least 10 different product websites before making a purchasing decision, and much of their decision to delve further into your website is based on the professionalism and information on your home page.

Your home page should be a three or four paragraph summary of your product which addresses questions about location, rates and sells your products major benefits over your competitors. In addition you should ensure your home page does not load slowly, and avoid flash animations as they rarely display the information required to entice your visitor to go further.

Within the information on your home page, ensure there is appropriate linked text where visitors can find out further information. This is particularly important with rates and calls to action.

The rates themselves should be clearly displayed in a neat table with the fine print or pricing conditions close by. A visitor needs to be able to quickly figure out how much your product costs, so avoid making them fill out a form with their dates and number of people as this is likely to annoy them and generally results in them studying your competitors rates page instead.

A strong call to action leading your visitor to book, enquire or phone should be near the rates data and is nearly always forgotten by less savvy website owners. Be clear about what your potential customer should do next.

Most often a visitor will contact you before booking if your website does not have an automated availability and booking form. You can make this process easy for them by having separate booking and enquiry forms.

Hire a professional photographer and include your most spectacular shots on your home page, and then scatter the rest generously through your website. Include talent from your target market demographic in the photos. This allows people to put themselves in the picture having an enjoyable experience.

Hindrances To Conversions

As the web becomes increasingly automated the time it takes for a visitor to gather the information they require from a tourism product provider will determine which provider makes the sale. For this reason consider investing in a web-based reservation system to allow customers to make decisions instantly. Customers will get frustrated if they need to wait for responses to their reservations and book a competitive product.

Many web users attest their biggest annoyance about websites is not being able to find the information they require to answer their questions. Think about the most common questions your customers ask and answer everyone of them.
The question all customers need answered is the one of prices. Some products mistakenly leave their prices off their website hoping someone will contact them to ask, but this strategy will sooner send your customers to a competitor which does display their prices. Just as bad as having no rates is having confusing rates, so keep them simple.

When a customer has an enquiry request ensure your enquiry form is short and sweet and only asks the absolutely necessary details you need to respond to the customer. Long enquiry forms will put customers off and they may choose not to bother asking.

Be careful with the photos you include as bad photography with small grainy pictures or old shots devalues your product and puts customers off. Avoid including anything blurry, out of focus, or where the photo has too many subjects.

Resources Travellers Use

Think about the online resources travellers use to find product, and ensure you have strong representation.

The first and most important is the search engines, especially Google. If you don’t have good rankings, consider purchasing advertising with Google AdWords to ensure you have good visibility.

Travellers often review prominent, high ranking information sites containing general information about the area. Look into advertising on these sites for more exposure to travellers who have not yet decided their precisie itineraries.

Big for international travellers are review and comparison websites like Trip Advisor (www.tripadvisor.com). These sites give customers an unbiased view of a number of products in an area, and rates them by popularity. Customers trust the reviews on Trip Advisor so encourage your customers to write something about your product.

Similarly travel forums like Lonely Planet’s The Thorn Tree allow travellers to explore destinations and their products through discussion with other travellers. Especially tour product will benefit by participating in online forum discussions and passively promoting their products aand services direct to potential customers. Seek out localised travel forums and ensure you follow the accepted ettiquette for product promotion.

The prominence of travel blogs have seen an increase in product providers being featured in personal stories from customers who have experienced that product. These are powerful reccommendations, and travel providers should consider asking customers if they have a travel blog and encourage their product’s favourable inclusion if so.

Travel websites are by large all about your customer. They need to cut through competition by doing a great job of answering your customer’s questions and being well organised with spectacular photography.

On a website, a link refers to anything you can click on that takes you to another page or another website. In this article, we explore the reasons to link to other websites, and the benefits of having other websites link to you.

Links between websites form the foundation of the web. Without links, the utility of the web would be reduced to a mere collection of discrete websites, instead of the interactive, interconnected resource for sharing information that we all expect.

By embracing the concept of website linking you are not only doing your bit to make the web a more useful tool for everyone, but also gaining some additional market penetration for the online arm of your business.

Why should you link to other websites?

Linking to another website is when a visitor on your website can click a link and be taken to somebody else’s website. In the industry, this is called an outbound link.

If a particular website contains helpful information that would supplement information on your website, consider linking to that website to help your visitors learn more about the topic. For example, if your website sells camera equipment, you might link to sections of the manufacturers’ websites that include specifications of the products you are selling.

Where you feel another website has adequately described a topic, and you do not have the inclination to write similar information for your own website, consider linking to that website. For example, if your website books accommodation in the Cairns region, you might want to describe the local weather for your international visitors. Instead of spending the time to write this information yourself, you could link to a more authoritative website in the matter and save yourself some trouble.

If you wish to express your alliance with another business or organisation, linking to that website will allow your visitors to see the affiliation and learn more about the other business or organisation, thereby boosting your reputation. Where you are a member of an industry organisation, using their logo (with permission) will serve to further reinforce this connection.

In all cases, your web developer should arrange for the link to open the other website in a new browser window so that your own website remains open even after your visitor has finished reading the other website.

Keep in mind that original, up-to-date and helpful content on your website is better than simply linking to another website. By having more content on your website, you will have greater opportunity to be listed in search engines for keyword phrases that you include in that content, and visitors will also feel you are a more knowledgeable and helpful business when they see you have written the information yourself.

How do links from other websites help you?

Having a link from another website is when a visitor on somebody else’s website can click a link and be taken to your website. In the industry, this is called an inbound link.

Having other websites link to you will bring you more visitors and broaden the number of ways in which you can reach your target market.

Visitors who come from other websites can often be more valuable than visitors who come from search engines, particularly of the other website has given you a glowing commendation together with the link.

Having a link on a well-respected website will add trustworthiness to your business, as visitors will assume that a website they respect will only link to reputable businesses and worthwhile websites. When another business links to you from their website, it creates the perception of that business recommending or endorsing you.

Search engines consider that if another website links to yours, then your website must contain some valuable information, and will therefore list you higher in the search results for keyword phrases you have included in your content.

The quality of a link from another website matters greatly to the search engines. If the website linking to yours is itself linked from many other websites, the search engines will deem its endorsement of your website to be more reliable, and will thereby further increase the position of your website’s listing in the search results. For example, a link from a university’s website will be more valuable than a link from a friend’s personal home page.

Search engines will not place as much importance on a link from another website if your website also links to theirs — known in the industry as a reciprocal link. This is because the search engines assume the links were arranged for mutual benefit, rather than a genuine endorsement by one website to another.

How can you encourage other websites to link to yours?

Over time, you will find other websites linking to yours for various reasons: somebody bought something from you and posted their experience to their personal blog; somebody reviewed your product; or a local organisation listed you as a member.

To accelerate this natural process of acquiring links from other websites, try some of the ideas below.

Others will be more likely to link to your website if you have unique, informative and well-written content. Therefore, consider what information your visitors might be interested in that cannot easily be found on other websites, and add this content to your website in a logical, well-organised manner. As owners of other websites seek out useful information to supplement their own, your original content will be of interest, and they will consider linking to your website as a result.

Write a series of articles about a topic relevant to your industry and about which you have extensive knowledge. Add a note to the bottom of each article that you grant permission for other websites to reproduce your articles, provided they acknowledge you as the writer and link to your website.

Search for online directories — organised collections of websites, such as www.dmoz.org — and suggest your website for inclusion. Directories that are specific to your industry, location or target audience will result in more relevant traffic. Perform a web search for travel directory as an example of how to find industry-specific online directories.

Write testimonials for companies with whom you do business, including suppliers, clients and associates. Give permission for your testimonial to be used in that company’s marketing literature, which could include their website and result in a link to yours.

Understanding the importance of links — both to and from other websites — and how to use them to increase the effectiveness and visibility of your website is an important part of the process of developing and promoting your online presence.

This article was originally published in the February 2008 edition of In Touch In Business magazine. You may also download The Right Connections article as it was printed.

An essential piece of viral marketing equipment for businesses who take the internet seriously, Facebook’s newly released Facebook Pages show a direct competitive attack on MySpace’s social stranglehold.

Bands, businesses, bars, clubs and attractions are among the organisations targeted to create a business presence and engage their customers through Facebook.

So, cityofcairns.com have officially joined Facebook.