Newsletter : March 2004
brought to you by New Zealand Tourism Online www.tourism.net.nz
In this March Newsletter:
NZTO Comment
by Garry Bond, General Manager, New Zealand Tourism Online
I think we must work too hard at New Zealand Tourism Online! Hot on the heals of our last award (placed 65th in the Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500 for the fastest growing companies in the region), we are now Telarc Certified. This is a quality management certification for businesses in New Zealand and although not directly related to tourism we are very pleased to have met the strict criteria. Telarc are an independent organisation focused on quality control and we will be audited by them every 6 months.
Personally I believe it is very important for companies to align themselves with professional organisations and bodies. Those in tourism are no exception and Qualmark are doing a good job of ensuring certain standards are met. With more tourism operators entering the industry you need to differentiate yourself in one form or another. Belonging to an authorised body is a good start but it's worth thinking outside tourism. What other sectors do you fall into? What sort of personal, staff or business qualifications can you obtain and promote? What memberships can you join?
Business has always been competitive but now more than ever you'll need look at ways to cement your place and secure your share of the tourism dollar.
Awards and Certification
As mentioned earlier New Zealand Tourism online now has a raft of awards and certifications. Here's a summary:
Fast 50 Award: Awarded 22nd fastest growing company in New Zealand in 2003 by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.
Telarc Q-Base Certification: Certification for quality management system and disciplines to assure quality of products and services.
Technology Fast 500 Award: Awarded 65th fastest growing technology company in the Asia Pacific area in 2003 by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.
Hitwise Top 10 Award: Currently ranked 3rd for the top New Zealand Web sites for the Travel - Destinations and Accommodation category.
... and we haven't finished yet.
For more information on additional promotional opportunities from New Zealand Tourism Online please email sales@tourism.net.nz or call toll free on 0800 14 65 49.
Old Web Pages
by Nick Butler, Avatar Web Promotions
Ever had a Web page that wouldn't die? You or your Web designer might have updated a page but you can only see the old version.
The chances are the culprit is the Cache. Pronounced "cash" or "caysh", a cache is a temporary storage area for frequently accessed information.
Web browsers cache pages to speed up surfing. They store the pages you've visited recently in their cache so that next time you visit the page (by clicking the Back button for instance) the page doesn't have to be downloaded off the Net again.
Browsers are supposed to check that they have the most up to date version of the Web page but sometimes they just don't seem to want to.
What To Do with the Web Page that Won't Die
- Click the Refresh or Reload button. If this doesn't work…
- Hold down CTRL then click the Refresh or Reload button. This is a super-refresh and insists that your browser go back to download the original page. If this doesn't work…
- Internet Explorer users should look in the Tools menu and go to Internet Options. On the General tab's Temporary Internet Files section click Delete Files. Netscape Navigator users can go to the Edit/Preferences menu, chose the Cache option in Advanced and click Clear Cache. If this doesn't work…
- Some ISPs (such as AOL) and some big institutions (such as Universities) also keep their own caches of Web pages. If this is the problem the best thing you can do is wait until they update their cache.
Yahoo Gobbles Up Google Search Share
by Nick Butler, Avatar Web Promotions
Yahoo! has rolled out a brand new search engine, effectively bulldozing vast chunks of the existing search landscape, and snatching a big slice of the search pie from Google.
Until this month, a search at Yahoo! pulled up Google results. Given that the two were competitors this situation was unlikely to last. Yahoo! had recently swallowed up Inktomi and paid search provider Overture (which in turn was still digesting Alta Vista and AllTheWeb) so it had no shortage of ring-ins when it chose to replace Google.
Rather than plug in a replacement from its existing stable though, Yahoo! has created its own search engine, complete with a new spider, new index and new techniques for ranking sites in the search results.
Yahoo! Search Technology now powers searches on Yahoo! and MSN Search. It also provides the index at both Alta Vista and AllTheWeb (although these engines retain their individual options and features).
What does the change mean?
Firstly, it eats away at Google's dominance. Analysis of comScore Media Metrix search traffic statistics by Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Watch shows the extent of the swing. Before the changeover Google, on its own and via Yahoo! and AOL, may have handled up to 70% of searches, with Yahoo! accounting for around 15-20%. Now the ratio is more like 50% Google, 40% Yahoo! (It's worth remembering that MSN Search are also working on their own search engine and when that replaces Yahoo! the figures will change again.)
Secondly, it rearranges the paid inclusion environment. Yahoo!'s buying spree left it with six different paid inclusion schemes. These have been consolidated into the one, called Overture Site Match. Like the programmes it supersedes, Site Match does not guarantee a ranking for your Web page in the search results, only its inclusion in the index. In other ways Site Match is a new beast.
How do You Pay for Overture Site Match?
There are two charges, an annual submission fee (about NZ$75 for the first URL, dropping to NZ$42 for the next 2-10, then NZ$15 for 11-100) and, in a new development, a Cost Per Click charge of between about NZ$0.25 and NZ$0.50. The idea of adding this CPC fee is, apparently, to encourage site owners to submit relevant pages (if people are clicking on your result, but your page is of no use to them, then you will have paid for the click for nothing).
The Return of the Metas
The other change with Site Match is that Yahoo! is encouraging site owners to include detailed metadata about the site. Metadata is information in the code of a Web page that search engines see but which doesn't show up on the screen. Search engines have tended to ignore it in recent years because of spam abuse, but Yahoo! hopes the CPC charge in conjuction with a site review process will keep people honest.
What about the Directory?
A listing in the old Yahoo! directory still has benefits – some searchers prefer to use it, and some search engines raise the rankings of sites listed there. Whether you want to fork out the NZ$450 to get your site a Yahoo! Express review (with no guarantee of inclusion) probably depends on your budget and how dependent your business is on search traffic.
Yahoo! will be rolling out more changes over the coming months and we'll keep you updated.
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
