Newsletter : September 2004

brought to you by New Zealand Tourism Online www.tourism.net.nz

In this September Newsletter:

• NZTO Comment
• A Growing Business
• Tourism Conference
• Disabled Centre Requires Help
• Search Engines and Competitive Search
• Search Engines, Link Building and Popups

NZTO Comment

by Garry Bond, General Manager, New Zealand Tourism Online

Do you know what pounamu is? If not, then you'll recognise the more well known name given to it - greenstone or New Zealand jade. Apparently, many visitors to this country end up taking home what they believe is an authentic greenstone carving when it's actually been made from imported jade. This could lead to the visitor being let down especially if the buyer isn't told about its origin or if it's inappropriately labeled.

This potentially bad experience highlights the importance of taking responsibility and ensuring the visitor has a true New Zealand experience that lives up to their expectations. Many of their expectations will be built up through the Internet, TV, magazines and other available media channels. Their overall impression starts as soon as they land and continues until they catch the plane back home.

Like it or not, we all play a part in their experience, and it's vital that you can somehow measure their satisfaction levels. Was their visit what they expected? How do they rate your quality of product or service? Any suggestion for improvements? Sure it's easier sometimes not to, but wouldn't you rather get good honest feedback, which you can then use to modify (if necessary) and grow your business. Besides if it's positive feedback it's great for your testimonial collection.

A Growing Business

New Zealand Tourism Online (www.tourism.net.nz) has experienced excellent growth over the last year. Infact, just in the last 6 months we've exceeded all of our expectations. Here's a bit of a summary:

Web Site Traffic: An increase of 34%
Email Enquiries to our Tourism Clients: An increase of 66%
Number of Tourism Operators on our Site: Has risen 50% over the same period last year

We work hard for our clients, so if you'd like to know more about what we can offer your tourism business, or to further enhance your existing profile on our site, then please call toll free on 0800 14 65 48 or email info@tourism.net.nz.

Tourism Conference

by Garry Bond, General Manager, New Zealand Tourism Online

I had the pleasure of attending my first Tourism Conference in Taupo a few weeks ago. Besides the fact that New Zealand Tourism Online came away with the Telecom People's Choice Tourism Award at the Gala Dinner (a big thrill), this conference proved to be well worth it and had many excellent presenters. There was a very good mix of social activities, the opportunity to meet new people and many tourism topics to ponder over.

Ginette McDonald played a great role as Master of Ceremonies at the conference and the many invited speakers included the Rt Hon Helen Clark, Hon Mark Burton plus many key figures from TIANZ and Tourism New Zealand. Geoff Ross from 42 Below (Vodka) and Paul Jeffreys "Diary of a Fat Man" provided entertaining listening with a message.

I certainly recommend this event and I definitely didn't leave Taupo feeling hungry!

Disabled Centre Requires Help

by Lindsey Keith, Southern Centre Coordinator

Many of us already know someone whose life is affected by disability. The Southern Centre (based at QEII in Christchurch) is one of the first facilities in the world to provide multi-sensory leisure opportunities for disabled people. Specialised interactive equipment enables individuals to control their environment, become more explorative and reduce the fear experienced in the unpredictability of the world around us.

The Southern Centre is part funded by a charitable trust and is continually striving to meet costs through fundraising events. We are soon to be conducting a fund raising event and are keen to source prizes. New Zealand Tourism Online has kindly included us in their newsletter in the hope that you may be able to donate a couple of nights' free accommodation for 2 people or any other prize that would be suitable. We would be hugely grateful, as would all of the people who use this facility.

If you are able to help please contact Lindsey Keith, Southern Centre Coordinator on (03) 941 7119 or email lindsey.keith@qeiipark.org.nz

Search Engines and Competitive Search

by Mark Rocket and Simon Leslie, Avatar Web Promotions

A little analysis of your competitors' Web site may reveal some useful information and point you in the right direction for your next online marketing campaign. Operators of sites that are consistently doing well in search engine rankings will regularly check out their online competition. The search engine world is an extremely competitive environment, and after all, there are only ten rankings available in the top ten.

A search engine can help you discover...

1. The Keyword Phrases They Target. Visit a competitor's Web page, right click and select 'View Source'. You'll find their keyword phrases in the <title>, <keyword> and <description> meta tags that sit inside the <head> tags of each page.



2. The Adwords They Use. Once you have a list of keywords, then it's good to double check if these keyword phrases are important to your competitors. Enter these keyword phrases into the Google search box. Check out the 'Sponsored Links' listed on the right. If a competitor thinks it's worth paying for these keywords then you should consider using them yourself.



3. Who Links To Them. Visit Google and enter "link:" followed by your competitor's domain name e.g. "link:www.competitorname.co.nz". The resultant list contains all the sites that link to your competitor. Possibly some of these organisations would also like to exchange links with you, so you may like to start contacting them.



4. Their PR Campaign Efforts. Use the links pages obtained above to discover the directories your competitors list with, and the categories under which they list. On these pages you may also find out who the competition partners with and glean information about their public relations efforts if they have had any associated online media articles.
   
   If you dedicate a little time each month to monitoring the search engine results pages that list your competitors, then you will be rewarded with valuable information about the major online players in your industry. If you're not already, this may see you on your way to becoming one.

Search Engines, Link Building and Popups

by Simon Leslie, Avatar Web Promotions

Here's a few quick tips.

• Search Engine Overkill. Thinking of doing a little of your own search engine submission? Here are three and a half tips to avoid becoming blacklisted. Despite what some 'experts' might tell you, you only need to submit your Web site to most search engines once, and continually submitting your site is detrimental. Get the other two and a half tips at WebProNews.com



• The Art Of Advanced Link Building. Building quality links into your site is still one of the most powerful ways of increasing both your Google PageRank™ and your position on the search engine results page. This article by Elizabeth Osmeloski of Search Engine Watch attempts to clean up some of the myths surrounding link popularity and explains the art of obtaining quality inbound links.



• Pop-Ups. Ever had your Internet browser start page reset? Had your screen buried in popups? Or your PC has slowed to a crawl for no good reason? The culprit is most probably spyware or its supposedly benign cousin adware.

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