Newsletter : January 2004
brought to you by New Zealand Tourism Online www.tourism.net.nz
In this January Newsletter:
NZTO Comment
by Garry Bond, General Manager, New Zealand Tourism Online
Welcome to 2004. I've just got back from holiday and l must say it's been remarkably busy. Besides still wearing shorts and a casual shirt (the weather in Christchurch has been excellent), it's hard to believe I've just had few weeks off. I've also spoken to several operators around the country and they have also had to hit the ground running after their Xmas break. So far it's looking good for 2004. I'm lucky though and can have a break. I sympothise with those operators who work hard over this period without much time off - still a winter holiday in the sun does sound appealing.
During my time off I took my family to Hanmer Springs. This is a favourate place for us and it's remarkable how this small village swells during summer. It also shows how a single successful major tourist attraction (Hanmer Springs Thermal Resort) can aid the development of an area. There are now dozens of smaller tourism orientated businesses opening up, each of which contributes to overall tourism picture.
For me, 2004 will be the year for more expansion and growth not only for the tourism industry but for New Zealand Tourism Online - we will keep you posted.
January Member Shield Winner
Congratulations to Jocelyn Strongman from Strongman Coaches in Coromandel. Jocelyn placed a New Zealand Tourism Online Member Shield on their Web site, entered our free draw and won an extra 6 months membership on www.tourism.net.nz
Thank you to all those who have taken part in our draws over the last year. We will have more exclusive competitions and offers coming up over the next few months.
Feel free to add a shield and link to your site. They are exclusive for you as a member of our site and they not only look great on your Web site but help aid your search engine status by connecting with a major NZ tourism portal. If you are unsure of your member status just drop me an email and I'll check for you.
Click for the details to add a shield and link to your site: www.tourism.net.nz/business-centre/
Here's what the two shields look like and don't forget to link them to us as this is a beneficial spinoff for your search engine rankings.
The Top Searches of 2003
by Nick Butler, Avatar Web Promotions
The search engines' year-end lists of the most popular search terms are a fascinating insight into the fad-tastic world of the Web.
In 2003 it was a case of Baby, One More Time for pop chanteuse Britney Spears. 2002's most-searched-for claimed the number one spot again, coming in at number 1 at Google, number 2 at Lycos and number 4 at Yahoo!. Britney's continuing appeal may have something to do with her tendency to forget to bring her clothes to magazine photo shoots and that MTV Awards smooch with Madonna.
Rapper, actor and record label CEO Eminem has been usurped as the man they're all searching for. Since he has been replaced by his own protégé, 50 Cent, he's probably crying all the way to the bank.
The numero uno search term overall was not a person but a peer-to-peer file-sharing programme called KaZaA, which was no. 1 at Yahoo! and Lycos. This popularity is despite the US record industry, which views the use of KaZaA to download copyrighted songs as grand larceny, suing hundreds of file-swappers (including a 12 year old girl who downloaded "If You're Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands").
Sheriff G. Dubya Bush's touching concern for the people of Iraq made that country the top News search at Google and Lycos (at Yahoo! Saddam Hussein was the number 3 search and Iraq War the number 8).
Other top "News" searches (i.e. Sordid Celebrity Scandals) include the allegations that US basketball star Kobe Bryant assaulted a 19-year-old woman last year, and the saga of airhead heiress and reality TV star Paris Hilton and her "private" video tape.
The search engines all filter their popular searches lists for adult subject matter (as well as computer and general terms). The number one search term on this list is...(close your eyes if you are easily offended)... Lyrics.
The full lists of 2003's top search terms:
Frames: The What, The Why & The Why Not
by Nick Butler, Avatar Web Promotions
Frames are a way of building Web sites. They are often also a way of buggering up your Web marketing.
A frames site is made up of pages loaded within other pages (often content surrounded by navigation), a bit like a picture within a frame.
The way to spot a frames site is to look for scroll bars that only move part of a page. You'll also notice that when you navigate within most frames sites the URL shown in your Web browser address bar doesn't change. Here is an example of a site that uses frames.
While frames have some benefits (small file size, fast loading, uniform look and feel), frames sites can be the kiss of death for search engine rankings.
This is because search engine spiders can't make sense of frames. On many frames sites they can't even follow the links from the home page to any of the other pages, effectively locking most of the site out of their indexes.
Even if the search engines could index the site, they couldn't list most frames pages in their results because they would just be showing one section of the complete page (so you might end up with a page of content but no navigation for example).
Other disadvantages of frames include problems with users bookmarking and printing your pages.
If your Web site has been built using frames, don't despair. There are techniques that can be used to make a frames site more search engine friendly. Since these techniques also help users whose browsers don't deal with frames they should be part of any frames site anyway, but surprisingly few Web designers use them.
And if you are planning a new Web site, and your designer wants to frame you up, you might want to suggest that they reconsider.
We welcome any feedback or contributions for our next newsletter - just email our team web@tourism.net.nz
Regards,
The Team
Ph. 0800 14 65 47
https://www.tourism.net.nz
New Zealand Tourism Online Limited
Head Office: 208 Cashel Street, Christchurch
