HospitalitySite

Alison Garlick, owner of Axis Marketing, a Cape Town based travel sales and marketing company, is reporting a growing demand from tour operators and travel agencies at a corporate, government as well as individual traveler level for Guest House and B&B accommodation. Whilst this is a marketing channel no owner or manager of accommodation should neglect, there are certain pre-requisitions one needs to take into consideration:

Although websites are being used more and more by consultants, these are often misleading and over sell the establishments. Direct and personal promotion is the preferred method as a personal relationship can develop. Make an appointment or at least a personal phone call to introduce your establishment and provide a lot of visual material.

Make sure your establishment and service are impeccable and support your appraisal by showing client testimonials, accreditations and surveys, which are most convincing when conducted by a third party.

Make sure your booking procedure is efficient and have availability, rates and other necessary information readily available – at all times. Depending on their client, travel agencies either work on a net rate or a commissionable rate of 10%, Tour Operators generally expect higher commissions.

Tour operators and Travel agencies need to provide their client with your full contact details and directions. This can best be done by providing the agency with an online brochure which they can download from your website and e-mail to the client.

Most travel agencies work with bill-back vouchers. Sending invoices and monthly statements in time and a good personal relationship will assist prompt payments.

Although it takes some time, selling skills and perseverance to establish a personal relationship with a tour operator or travel agency consultant, it does pay off and they will become the most loyal supporters you can only hope for.”

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How to tackle the corporate market

Some like corporate clients because they are easy guests, some because they keep us busy during off season. In any case, if your property is not a pure holiday destination, you should not miss out on this lucrative market, but the question is, how to get large companies to book with you?

Don’t wait until they call you – you need to introduce your establishment to them!

Make a list of companies (start in your area – many of them have regular visitors).

Call them to find out whether they require regular accommodation in your area and who makes the reservations.

Send an Email, if possible with Email Branding and attach an E-Brochure. E-mails get lost, but websites added to Favorites or E-Brochure can be saved can be easily forwarded to the guests.

Make an appointment to meet with the person in charge of reservations and introduce your establishment using a nicely compiled A4 folder with large and high quality pictures and leave sufficient brochures.

Invite the person in charge of reservation to a house inspection or arrange for a show-house day on which you can invite a group of corporate clients at once.

Treat and pamper the people in charge of reservations well – they make many bookings but don’t get to travel very often themselves – offer them a free night or weekend at your establishment – even if they live close by, they will enjoy a weekend get-away for themselves or can invite friends.

When they book, always try to accommodate them, even if it is only for one night. Offer them your best rooms, give corporate discounts and if you cannot accommodate them at all, go the extra mile and find or recommend a nice place nearby.

Offer a special corporate rate or any other value added service such as the daily newspaper, free wireless internet, free laundry service, even free airport transfer.

Always say thank you to the person in charge of reservation after the guests stayed – this is also a great opportunity to get feedback – the guests might not complain to you, but they will to the person who made the booking.

We know it is a lot of work, but once you have won a corporate client they will come back time after time, even in low season and when the weather is bad…

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Accept Credit & Debit Cards Online – Alternatives to POS terminals.

Online payment gateways enable you to accept credit and debit cards without paying the full price and going through the lengthy process of becoming a credit card merchant yourself.

Online payment gateways allow your guests to pay online via secure online applications from anywhere in the world using their credit card and now also debit cards (South African card holders only).

You can enter secure payments from your PC for payment of balances or bookings via phone or from walk-in guests.

Payment gateways integrate in different ways into your booking process, allowing you to either refer the guest via a link to a payment gateway or integrate the gateway into your website. Others offer a complete enquiry based booking process or real time online bookings that are immediately confirmed and paid.

Online payment gateways streamline your booking process and offer many value added features such as e-mail and sms notification of enquiries, bookings and payments, additional internet exposure, reservation calendar, quote expiry date, secure storage of booking details, transaction and revenue reports, and much more.

Online payment gateways are generally more cost effective than traditional POS terminals, prices vary and are made up of a monthly service fee from as little as R50 and transactional rates of 2.5% - 5%.

The ability to accept debit and credit cards increases the efficiency of your booking process, which in turn saves you time and improves client satisfaction and trust, resulting in higher conversion rates.

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Marketing Tip of the Month - Social Media Optimisation

Social networking has set the online world on fire over the past two years and the travel industry has its share, with the likes of TripAdvisor, Travel-Directory, Trivago, Tripwolf to name just a few. Seeking information and looking for perspective – like-minded experience and judgments – are currently trumping the straightforward hunt for the lowest price. Many establishments are starting to look at social networking as a viable channel for interacting with their customers and prospects, but are not sure where to start.Here are a few tips for getting started using social networking as a marketing channel:

Add your establishment to travel related social networking sites such as TripAdvisor, Travel-Directory, Trivago, Tripwolf, to name only a few and encourage your visitors to review your establishment on these sites.

Make bookmarking and viral marketing easy - Adding content features like quick buttons to "add to del.icio.us" or “Digg This” are one way to encourage visitors to bookmark and share your website on the internet. Another way to promote viral marketing is a quick button to “Send to Friend”.

Create a sense of community on your own website by adding a guest book and picture gallery to your website, where visitors can share their feedback and memories, or you can add a blog, where visitors can be in conversation with your establishment.

Join several popular social websites as a member and create a 'page' or 'group' that users can choose to join.

Be a User Resource, even if it doesn't’t help you directly - Add value to users, including outbound links to areas that could help them with their goals and purposes and provide content such as acrobat reader and video files that can be submitted to relevant sites.

Start today experimenting with a small initial investment into social networking to see if it is right for your brand and your ‘online personality’. And remember: Social networking is a whole new world where the audience expects you to engage with it rather than blasting out marketing messages.

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Mobile Solutions – Market & Manage your Business

78% of South Africans do not own a PC – but a cell phone! That is over 29 Million mobile phone users of which an estimated 18 million WAP enabled devices. Mobile communication has not only revolutionized social interaction, but is also having a profound impact on the way in which establishments can communicate with potential guests, market & manage their B&B.

Arguably the leader in cell phone marketing of accommodation is Sleeping Out who have just recently launched their cell phone optimized website, followed by Places for Africa, Exploringsa and Tourism Web which have WAP versions of their portals.

Normal web sites take long to load and navigate on a cell phone. The solution is an affordable cell phone optimized WAP site providing guests searching for accommodation on their mobile phone with a fast loading and easy to navigate site with many features such as an telephonic hyperlink which is called when clicked, specials, and a photo gallery. Read more about WAP Sites.

The average email is received within 24 hours of sending and is responded to within 48 hours. On the other hand, an average SMS is read within 15 minutes and responded to within 1hour. Innovative SMS Communication Systems make it easy for you to send SMS’s from your PC, you can save templates, define groups and send confirmations, directions, news and specials to your clients with a link to your website or WAP site. Read more about SMS Communication Systems.

Being out of touch for a couple of hours can cost you a booking. The Nightsbridge’s cellphone application allows you to check your availability from anywhere. You can also add a new booking to update the central system without even turning on your computer. If you have a cell phone enabled credit card facility, you can even accept credit cards using your cell phone – all without of turning on your PC or even being close to a PC. With new operating systems and browsers for mobile phones being developed and Yahoo! and Google improving their search experience with their mobile versions of their search engines, mobile marketing has to be considered as a serious marketing strategy that is quick, cost effective.

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Web Analytics – Learn more about the visitors to your website

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The Basics of Website Optimisation

The Basics of Website Optimisation The first and most important section you come across are the so called meta tags. The meta tags should be placed in the section of a site's front page and normally consist of a title, meta description and meta keywords. These are used to describe the content found on the site. It is advisable not to repeat the same word more than twice within each of the above-mentioned tags, as most search engines have a built-in spamming detection feature. Should you repeat the same word too often, it might negatively influence your ranking in search engines.

The "title" tag contains the name or title of your web site with a short phrase describing the main products or service offered, while the "description" meta tag contains a short description of your site. These two tags are important due to the fact that their content are extracted to form the name and summary of your site as displayed in the search results page.

The "keywords" meta tag should be used to include keywords that are relevant to your site and which in turn, will enable your site to be searchable. Beware not to use more than 80 words in this tag, as this will also be seen as spamming, which might in turn result in a negative ranking.

The description, listing and ranking of web sites in the search engines is determined by a complex algorithm which gathers information from the following tags on your site, e.g. title, meta tags, body text, etc. You should repeat this check of the meta tags on all of your pages, because unlike common believe, meta tags are very important for every of your pages and should never be the same for several of your websites pages.

While everyone is talking about search engine optimization, web site optimization is often completely forgotten, yet it is the necessary first-step to building and marketing a functional web site. Web site optimization is the process of specifically designing your site’s web pages to rank high within search engines and is an absolute must to make sure your website can be found by search engines.

There are several steps you can take to optimize your website:

-	Find out what keywords users type into search engines when they are looking for a service or product like yours.
-	Add title and meta tags, page titles, header tags and image alt tags: this is useful information for search engines to index your page more accurately.
-	Add meta tags that provide further information and instructions for search engines, such as regional information, content, indexing frequency, languages and pages you do not want to be indexed.
-	Write good copy for your website with a lot of text describing your service or product and make sure your keywords appear in the copy.
-	Place the most important information at the top of your pages and do not overload your page with pictures and frames, search engines cannot read these.
-	Enter into a link exchange with other websites that are relevant to the visitors of your website.
-	You should not repeat keywords too often, use invisible text and over submit your website.

When all of that is done correctly, it is most important to be patient. It can take several months before you achieve desired results.

Please click here, for recommended Website Design Services.

Please click here for recommended Search Engine Optimization Services.

Link Building
It is very important to link your website to other websites whose content and information
can improve the experience of the visitors to your website.
A link can be an image (picture) or a line of text on a page in a website that will take the user to another page within the same site or to another site. Having a link to your website on other websites does not only improve your search engine rankings, but is also a good way to ensure that it is seen be as many people on the internet as possible.

Take care of the following when you are setting up a link building strategy:

- Make sure that your site’s navigation is copied in the text.

- When a link is an image or a logo it should have an alt image text.

Try to get links from websites which are ranked higher on search engines than your own website.

- Make sure you are linking with relevant websites. For example, a link from a bed & breakfast’s website to an attractions or tour guide’s website is a relevant link as visitors to your website are generally interested in a large variety of activities and services to plan their stay.

- The most powerful way to link your website to others are so called anchored links. These are links build into the copy (text) of a website.

When optimizing your website, keep in mind that websites are there for the user – your customer – to learn more about your service or product and to eventually make a reservation. Although appealing websites generally produce higher conversion rates, you should keep the user always in mind when designing and optimising your website for search engines. User-friendliness is the most important aspect of web design once you have made sure your website is found on the internet.

Please click here, for recommended Website Design Services.

Please click here for recommended Search Engine Optimization Services.

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How to stay competitive in tough times without of having to reduce your rates

During the past few months, many establishment owners felt the economic slow down and many can only dream of occupancy levels they have achieved in the same months of past years. Some however, have been able to maintain or even improve on their year to year occupancy levels. The question is, how are they doing this and what can you do to prepare for and survive the impending downturn? Things you can do now to stay competitive:

Ask yourself these questions:

Increase your online exposure and review your website to make sure it is up-to-date and optimized for easy conversion turning lookers into bookers. Online availability and payment gateways are just some of the features you might want to consider.

Make use of accommodation portals that allow you to advertise specials and last minute availability.

Provide transparent, all-inclusive pricing information on your website with no hidden costs.

Increase your marketing budget, focused on highlighting promotions through pay-per click marketing, which instantly drives traffic to your website.

Have your website professionally translated into the languages of your target market. This will not only enhance the experience of foreign visitors to your website but also improve your search results in search engines.

According to a recent study, 87% of travelers read reviews when planning their next trip. Use guest reviews to promote your establishments and enhance your website.

Optimize your website for search engines including link building to increase traffic and the page rank of your website. Although this is not a quick fix, it will certainly help you in a few months from now.

Directly promote your establishment to travel agents, tour operators and corporate clients.

Promote your establishment on websites offering social networking, hotel reviews and trip planning.

Activate your data base and promote your establishment to people that stayed with you in the past.

Do not reduce your rates, but rather include products with a high selling price and low cost to you. Still one of the best ways is to offer a free night for longer bookings; alternatively you can offer complimentary airport transfers, include a dinner, a tour, etc.

Focus on service excellence in the way you manage enquiries through quick response, reliability and by focusing on the relationship with the potential guest from the first contact. Always contact the potential guest in addition to your standard e-mail reply by phone.

The successful establishments in 2009 will be those that, in addition to competitive pricing and effective online exposure, offer the highest value for money and best service experience to the customer.

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Marketing Tip of the Month – Translate your website into foreign languages

To translate or not to translate? Is it worth translating your company’s web site into a foreign language? The answer is yes if your business is not entirely focused on the South African market. You might think that your web site in English, as the most important language in the world, should be sufficient. Think again. We forget that one third of all internet users do not speak English and therefore our “international” site is actually losing out from potential clients.

A multilingual web site is becoming a necessity for international business for different reasons:

Multilingual web sites allow you to enter new markets.

They will increase the visibility of your website on the internet.

And they allow your visitors to surf quickly and efficiently in their own language which makes your company more competitive.

Search engine optimization is the magic word in internet marketing. The HTML text on your web site is scanned by search engines (like Google) to find keywords which users look for. If your web site is translated into another language, the users looking for information in their own language find your site. If not, your web site is not picked up.

Do not use an automatic translation services or your “neighbor”

Once you have decided that you want your site translated, it is crucial to have it done the right way. Accurate translation requires an understanding of the context and of the structure and rules of a language. A perfect translation makes the reader feel as if the content was not translated, but originally written in the target language. It takes into consideration the culture, style and language of the target audience. It is a fact that a bad translation is worse than no translation at all as the foreign client picks up the “low budget” vibe of the business which creates a negative image.

So, once you have made your decision to have your web site translated, do it in an appropriate way. It is an investment that pays.

Click here to contact us for professional translation services.

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Use GPS technology to drive customers to your business

What is a Global Positioning System (GPS) Point of Interest (POI) ?
GPS stands for Global Positioning System and is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satellites placed into orbit. This technology is used in Navigation Devices. POI stands for Point of Interest and is a specific coordinate or address on a digital map. On the road, the owner of a Navigation Device or GPS enabled PDA or Cell Phone, can locate the premises, the telephone number, website address and logo of restaurants, filling stations, hotels, B&Bs, ATMs, supermarkets or emergency services closest to your present location. The device will then auto-navigate you along the shortest route to the front door of which ever POI you selected.

How does it work?
GPS devices make use of digital maps which include Points of Interest. The logo of your business will be visible at the exact location of your business as when drivers pass that point in their vehicles. Customers will also be able to search for your business with their GPS unit and then be directed to your premise. In addition, most applications show your full contact details such as name, phone numbers, e-mail address and even your own website, so customers can contact you before they arrive at your business.

How can I get my services listed as a POI?
There are several companies that provide listing services:

Garmin offers a free listing on their GPS maps. Your listing is actively promoted to Garmin Gold Card Members on their website and GPS maps if you are prepared to offer a 10% discount to members identifying themselves with a Garmin Gold Card; Just go to www.garmingoldcard.co.za/partner.asp

eWheels offers a listing for R900 plus VAT for a period of 12 months on their GPS Software.

Business Positioning Systems offers a listing from R179 plus VAT per month.

What do I get when I list my business on a GPS map?

Your business will be added to various GPS maps for a period of 12 months.

When you list your business with eWheels, you get a free website friendly jpeg map for use on your own website including your longitudinal and latitude

In addition, your business is included in all major Internet mapping websites e.g. www.easymap.co.za

What do I need to know about GPS mapping services?

Southern African maps have over 100 000 Points of Interest already that fall into 250 categories. For example 5 295 Hotels and Places to Stay, 6 074 Restaurants, 4 847 Filling Stations, 4 709 Banks & ATMs and over 6 500 Retail outlets.

Once you list your business with any of the above mentioned services, there will be a maximum six-month delay before your listing is released, as GPS maps are updated twice a year.

Before a POI is shown to a potential customer on his GPS device, several companies have been involved. Companies such as eWheels and Business Positioning Solutions are Agents that collect POI information that is processed by digital mapping companies such as Mapit or Navteq to place your business logo on the exact location of your business premises on the maps which are then used and distributed by GPS device manufacturers such as Garmin, TomTom, Mio, Siemens and others as well as manufacturers of mobile phones. and retailers.

Because there are various GPS manufacturers and several companies creating digital maps for South Africa, chances are that if you are listing your business with one agent or mapping company, your business might not be included in all available mapping software used by various applications and manufacturers.

Where as your listing with Garmin is obviously only used on Garmaps, listings sold by eWheels are used by all major GPS device manufacturer, with the exception of mainly Nokia cell phones, which use Navteq maps. If you would like to be sure to be listed on all GPS maps available for South Africa, you would have to go with Business Positioning Solutions who submit their POI’s to Navteq as well.

The choice is yours, you can go with eWheels, who cover the majority of all traditional GPS devices and mobile phones using Garmaps or you can choose Business Positioning Solutions, who include Nokia mobile phones using Navteq maps as well.

Should I list my business on a GPS map?

Still fairly new in South Africa, the number of GPS users is still limited. However, especially the new generation of affordable GPS enabled Cell Phones will increase the amount of customers using GPS maps dramatically.

Drivers search for products and services at the time they need them – if you’re on the map, they’ll come to you.

If your business is on a GPS map, instead of providing your GPS Coordinates or your exact address, guests who have booked with you can simply search for your company name and will have a stress-free driving experience to your establishment.

According to Business Positioning Systems, in the United States, “lodging” is the second most searched category on GPS units after “petrol”.

If you wish to be included in GPS Maps before the 2010 Soccer World Cup, you should get listed as soon as possible as the release of maps takes up to 6 months and existing users of GPS devices download new maps on average only once per year.

Many smaller establishments are not in favor of “walk-in” guests due to the associated risks or do not get a lot of walk-in bookings as their premises are not on drive-through routes and thus are not seen by customers driving by. This might change with a listing on a GPS unit and therefore might help to fill those empty beds with last minute bookings. In line with this, we also believe that customer behavior will change towards more walk-in bookings as customers easily can find now establishments on their GPS devices and Cell Phones.

Our conclusion: A listing on GPS maps is certainly an additional alley to increase your exposure and build your brand. With time to come, it will be a standard, just like being listed in the Yellow Pages, therefore, we believe the time is right to consider a listing on a GPS map now.

Click here for a list of Service Providers

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Does your website have a Favorites Icon, “Add to Favorites” and Social Bookmarking Functions?
The Favorites Icon (also known as “Favicon” is the little icon in your internet browser next to where you would type in the web address. This icon is also shown in your Favorites list. By offering “Add to Favorites” and Social Bookmarking functions on your website, you further encourage visitors to safe your website in their favorites or to add your website to social networks, which will make it easier for them to remember, share and revisit your website

The Custom Favorites Icon
Have you added a site to your favorites list in your Web browser, and noticed that a web site's own custom icon was added beside the site's title in your list? Rather than the plain default icon, this custom icon makes the site stand out from the others in the list. Now, which site are you most likely to click on when you view that list again? Probably the one with the special icon!

If you haven't seen one yet and you are using IE 5+ or any of the newer browsers such as Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari, you can take a look at one by adding this page to your favorites list. You'll notice an orange logo with Hospitality Site’s mouse in the middle. Notice how the colored icon stands out in your list, and how it is added to your "Address" area where you type in a web site URL.

So, how can you do the same thing? All that is actually required is that you create a file called favicon.ico and place it in any directory on your site where someone could add your page to his/her favorites list.

When you create your icon, make sure it is 16x16 pixels. This is the size the browser will expect. When you are done, save the file as favicon.ico and upload it to your server in any directory on your site that has viewable html files. Test it out by adding your site to your favorites list. It is a nice touch and will give your viewers a recognizable image when they look for you in their favorites lists.

Add to Favorites Function
And once you have added your Favorites Icon, you can remind visitors to Bookmark your website by offering an “Add to Favorites” function that could look like this:
» Click here to add this page to your favorites

People are a lot more likely to return to your site if it's in their bookmark list (and shows your customized favorites icon). If you offer them a link to click to add your site they won't forget.

Social bookmarking
Social bookmarking is an activity performed over a computer network that allows users to save and categorize a personal collection of bookmarks and share them with others. Users may also take bookmarks saved by others and add them to their own collection, as well as to subscribe to the lists of others.

All you have to do is to add a "Add To Bookmarks" widget/code to your website to give visitors an easy way to share your website with their network.

You want to do this, because it helps get your website on the various Social Bookmarking sites. This will help drive more traffic to your content by utilizing the word-of-mouth aspects of Social Bookmarking. Each person who adds a link to your blog or site using a Social Bookmarking site helps raise the awareness of your content.

It’s all about building your brand name and making it easy for visitors to revisit and share your website with others. Overall, this is a great way to drive traffic and to get a few more visitors to your web site. It may be not the most important thing of a website, but it is also not the most difficult to do, so if you don’t have it, give your webmaster a ring and tell her/him to set it up for your website.

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Is your website working for your business?
In the last issue of our newsletter, we have offered a free evaluation of your website. In the following three issues, we will share some of the most common issues. In this newsletter, we will address general design & performance issues, the next issue will focus around on-page optimization of websites and the last issue will address the content & functionality of websites to turn lookers into bookers.

General Website Issues:
However great you may think your site looks, if it’s difficult to find or use people won’t come back. If you want to have a successful website, that is a website that generates traffic, enquiries and bookings, then you have to consider the following factors.

Google’s Page Rank
First and foremost, we always look at Google’s Page Rank (PR). A page rank of 3-5 is considered average, however, only a relatively small proportion of website's of smaller establishments have a PR of 3 and to find a PR 4 or 5 is even more difficult. Most of the websites we have analyzed have a PR of 0-2, which basically says that Google does not view those websites as relevant.

Alexa Traffic Rank
Next, we have a short look at Alexa’s traffic rank, although not as accurate as your website’s statistics or Google Analytics, but still a fairly good indicator of a website’s traffic. Websites with a traffic rank below 100 000 get a good share of traffic, the lower the traffic rank the more visitors. A traffic rank between 100 000 and 1000 000 is a good indication that your website is getting some traffic. Most of the website’s we have analyzed have a traffic rank far above 1 million, which means those website gets almost no traffic.

Intro Pages
We came across many websites which are using intro pages, in most cases because they offer two or more languages or several businesses and let the visitor choose on their intro page which section they would like to visit. The result is that the home page, which is your most important page actually has almost no text search engines could index. If you have an intro page, don’t get rid of it, it most likely has a good page rank by now, but instead, ad text and links to all your other pages.

Say what you offer
Anybody who visits your site should be able to learn what you are offering within a few seconds. Be mindful that the majority of your visitors will probably not enter via the home page. Write a good tag line explaining what your website offers, include it next to your logo or somewhere prominent, this will help get your message across to new visitors.

Keep homepages clutter free
Be ruthless when deciding what needs to be on your homepage. Just include the necessities, when someone visits this page it should be instantly obvious what your site is and what their next step should be.

Navigation and Consistency
Navigation is perhaps the most important element of any web design. Tabs can be a really effective means of primary navigation, they are also commonplace so everybody knows how they work. Whatever form of primary navigation you choose make sure it’s consistent across your site. And that is true for most of the elements of your website – keep it as consistent as possible, don’t change colors, fonts, layout, or even the navigation on every page.

Websites and frames
Several years ago, frames became very popular. But when poorly implemented, they cannot be seen by some major search engines and by browsers that do not support frames. We came across several websites that work in Internet Explorer, but not in Mozilla Firefox or other web browsers.

Make sure your website is fast downloading
Use design more, graphics less. For a web page to be successful it needs to download quickly and look good. Flash and large pictures, especially background images are taking long to download, rather use design and various colors.
Make sure to read our next two issues about on-page optimization of websites and the content & functionality of websites to turn lookers into bookers. If you would like to learn more about these topics, you might be interested in our Online Marketing Training or request a FREE evaluation of your website.

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Alexa Traffic Rank Explained

High Alexa traffic rankings are coveted by webmasters and website owners around the world. While data is collected only from Alexa Toolbar users, the toolbar is used by millions of web surfers. You can download the Alexa Toolbar from www.alexa.com.

How Alexa ranks your website:
Ratings are based on a level from 1 to 4,000,000 and it goes beyond 4 mil sometimes. The LOWER your rating on Alexa the better. Meaning if you have a ranking under 100,000 then your website should be producing some good traffic. 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 ratings are for new sites mostly, or sites with no traffic basically. While a rating of 1 will be the website with the most traffic.

The best use of this traffic ranking tool is to see how your site compares to 3 months ago as well as to other side. Moving up in the Alexa rankings can help you determine if your Internet marketing efforts are bringing unique visitors to your website.

Alexa also monitors the Average Pages Viewed by one visitor over a day, week, or month. The more pages viewed the more interested you visitors might be about the information on your site. If you get 1.0 as your Average Pages Viewed score, then one person only looks at one page on average at different time periods. Get a score of 5, most of the time it means 5 pages viewed per visitor.

Alexa also accesses reach per million of users. This rating is tricky to understand as well, took me a bit to put it all into explainable numbers not just rating points. Yahoo has a reach per million internet users of 28% which means for every 1,000,000 million visitors, they get 280,000 of that traffic. So if you have a traffic level of 20 then that means for every million people 20 visit your site.

How does the Alexa Traffic Rank compare to the Google Page Rank?
Google PageRank (GPR) and Alexa Traffic Rank (ATR) are two different measures of a website's success. Simply speaking, GPR measures the number of links to the site, while ATR measures the site's traffic. There is a very strong relationship between Google PR and Alexa Traffic Rank.

What are the benefits of using Alexa
The power in the Alexa ranking is your ability to tell if someone is telling the truth about their traffic levels, whether its good to purchase advertising space on a website and you want to see if they are really getting the unique hits they say they are. Check domains you could buy with traffic, show you where traffic is going on the web, show you which of your websites is more popular. How about determining what method your competitors are using to advertise their websites? Is it search engine traffic or is it email marketing campaigns? Is it short-term targeted hit traffic or is it pop-unders over a longer period of time?

Here is how. Next time you come upon a website, and you want to know more. Click on the "Info" button to the left of the Alexa rating. What this will do is take you to the page telling you information about the website you are at. It shows you the traffic rank, snapshot of the website, various links, and possibly a review by an editor. Look over to the LEFT of the screen. Click the "Traffic Detail" link. This will take you the page with detailed traffic information. Most of the stuff explained above will be on this page. Ok here is what you are looking for in the first graph with about 3-6 months of traffic detail. Do you see any sudden fluctuations in traffic? Any large mountains on those horizons? Ignore changes that are 10,000 to 30,000 in difference. This is too much of a gray area to determine much. What you are looking for is large fluctuations in traffic, dips and increases. A massive change from say 100,000 to 1,300 means this website has increased its traffic by almost 90,000 points!! Now what would do that? Email marketing campaigns, direct hits, pay-per-click campaigns, short term banners on high traffic sites, etc... Imagine all those new unique hits visiting a website using the Alexa toolbar. Its going to raise the Alexa rating by a lot. But what type of marketing would mean long lasting hills and smaller spikes in the graph. Most likely constant marketing strategies such as organic search engine traffic, repeat visitors, forums, longer PPC campaigns, and the possibilities go on.

I encourage everyone that is reading this article to put Alexa to work for you. Information for the right reasons is no longer as free as it once was. Using a free tool like Alexa will help you not only have some understanding about your website and others but understand the impact of your overall marketing strategy in the long run. So use it, read it, but don't misunderstand it.

To download Alexa’s Toolbar, please go to www.alexa.com

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Awards and Accolades

Winning a tourism award speaks volumes for the winner. It’s proof of quality, service and good facilities. To the customer, an accolade may sway a traveller’s decision, supporting the choice of award-winning products – after all, that award is a firm vote of confidence. There are a number of local South African tourism awards available to members of the domestic tourism industry.

Probably the most well known award program within the hospitality industry is operated by the AA Travel Guides in association with American Express. The AA Travel Guides American Express Accommodation Awards program is the only established mechanism that consumers can use to express their views about the quality of tourist accommodation in South Africa and is now in its fifteenth year. The 34 award categories include different types of guesthouses and hotels, game lodges, self-catering resorts and lodges.

Two other award programs that are particularly well known within the broader tourism industry are South African Tourism's Emerging Tourism Entrepreneur of the Year Award (Eteya) and the Welcome Awards. Eteya seeks to single out those innovative smaller business that deserve to be centre stage, and some winners have gone on to become industry movers and shakers. The Welcome Awards encourage customer care and service excellence to afford the visitor as pleasant an experience as possible.

Another awards program focusing on investment in the African Hospitality Industry are the Hospitality Investment Awards, which form part of the TBCSA’s Hospitality Investment Conference Africa (HICA). The Hospitality Investment Awards are meant to recognise and reward organisations and individuals who have made an extraordinary contribution to lifting the profile of the African tourism and hospitality sector. The awards strive to promote growth, investment, innovation and excellence, across all tourism sectors in Africa.

An interesting programme is run by Amarula, makers of a local liqueur, who have gone in search of the Best Retreats in Africa. The “Amarula Best Retreats in Africa Awards” is an annual celebration showcasing the best and most innovative of Africa’s Retreats. The initiative was launched in 2008. The Amarula Best Retreats In Africa Awards aim to showcase, honour and reward excellence in the luxury establishments of Africa.

Local awards in tourism are also available for the growing list of spa properties. The phenomenal growth in the Spa Industry in South Africa is symbolic to this, thus the Les Nouvelles Esthetiques Sanitas Per Aquas (S.P.A) Awards was established in 2005 to honour this flourishing market and those who excel in their field. These prestigious awards acknowledge excellence and those who set the benchmark, in quality and innovation within the Spa, Health & Wellness Industry.

Tourists worldwide are increasingly conscious of doing the least harm in their travels. Responsible tourism and conservation are buzzwords in the global industry today. A home-grown responsible tourism awards scheme, the Imvelo Awards, has been in effect for some time now and its vote carry weight in the industry. Another local tourism award programme from our national parks authority, the SANParks Kudu Awards, pays tribute to those who partner the organisation in conservation.

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An effective Tourism Website

How to Double Your Sales and Profits with a Travel Website that Sells!

Does your travel web site have these four critical sales elements clearly and quickly represented, that most effective travel web sites have? If not you are missing opportunities, losing sales and money.

An effective Tourism Website…
… Creates a desire to use your tourism services, visit your destination or participate in your unique tourism option.
… Clearly informs prospects of travel and service benefits, options, sites, nature/environment, safety and activities.
… Answer top questions and concerns all prospective visitors have.
… 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. 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.

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. With so many global destination choices online, you MUST communicate clearly and quickly what your offer is about and that it is a safe and fun destination.

The best place to do this, is on your home page, not buried deep in your site. When someone first comes to your tourism web site, you literally have five to fifteen seconds to grab their interest and compel them to want to know more about your destination, tours, etc. If you don’t grab them on your home page, they are gone. Those prospective tourists are back to surfing the web, seeking out a more interesting, compelling travel web site and vacation destination.

When a visitor arrives on your home page or any other page of your website, they should immediately be able to know what you are offering and in which location, combined with your key selling points.

Guest reviews are a great way to communicate the attractiveness of your offer. Guest reviews are a very strong marketing tool and should be placed on every page of your website in a prominent location. Pictures, videos and virtual tours are another method how to quickly inform visitors about your offer.

Tourism Web Site must clearly inform
One of the prime reasons people travel is to experience “something different” from their ordinary life and location. Especially active and eco tourists 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.

When selling tours or accommodation on a website, you are always selling two things: your unique offer as well as your destination. Therefore, it is an absolute must to provide detailed information about both.

Your accommodation or tours should be described in every detail, what is included, what is excluded, etc. For accommodation offers, pictures of the bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen (if available) and entertainment area are very important.

In respect to your location, you should include plenty of information about your location, not only how to get to you but also things to do, attractions, activities, restaurants, how to get around, distances, etc. Maps and Directions are important – not just to find your establishment once someone has made a booking but also to exactly plan a vacation. A well presented map should also include attractions in your vicinity as well as distances to the next airport, main routes, etc.

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. First and foremost, prices and terms & conditions must be available to a potential guest on your website

One of the best ways to deal with all the typical questions you’ll get from prospective clients is a Frequently Asked Questions and Answers page – FAQ’s.

A printer friendly brochure to print or download including all the main selling points of your offer could further promote your offer as visitors to your website can print, save or forward such a brochure. The brochure should include a short description of your establishment with a few pictures, all your contact details, directions, and a small map.

Not all visitors are fluent in English, therefore, it is recommended to translate your website into the languages of your international target markets, this will not only convince foreigners to stay with you and will make browsing for them much easier, it will also help your ranking in search engines if foreign search terms are used, which is quite often the case.

Effective Tourism Web Sites motivate prospects to contact you quickly
Once your website has convinced a potential visitor about your offer, it is crucial to provide various easy and quick methods to get in touch with you. Full contact details must be provided in a prominent spot of all of your website’s pages, including your phone number and an option to send an e-mail or to make a reservation. Skype and Call-Back are further options how you can make it easier (and cheaper) for your guests to speak to you.

When it comes to making a reservation, you should give your guests various ways and means of how to book your offer. An online enquiry form is an absolute must and is still the preferred method, additionally, you should consider providing an online booking facility for those that want to book straight away.

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